Nothing Like A Sick Puppy

 Very short and sweet this morning.  My bestest of the best puppy has an upset stomach this morning.  At least I have easy-to-clean hardwood floors!!

This was us yesterday out for a lovely morning walk before we met up with the two golden retrievers running loose in the neighborhood.  Sweet as pie they were, but Mr. Cooper is VERY territorial, a trait learned from Miss Jessie who hated everyone.  It was all I could do to keep him from attacking the sweet boys five times his size!

As soon as I get this mess cleaned up, I'm off to WORK!!  I can't believe I'm saying that!!  I'm going to make it a very short day!!

Out On The Town!

 I've been watching lots of videos of South Carolina after the last hurricane.  Those beautiful mountains had so much rain that many areas were completely flooded.  All those lovely RV parks and resorts next to the rivers are gone.  It is utter devastation in many places.  My prayers go out to all of them.

That made me feel pretty bad as I sat in my nice warm kitchen making breakfast.  If I am facing a flood, it's a flood of this pure maple syrup from Canada.  It doesn't make Cooper very happy since it's not on his "edible" list, but it makes me smile with every single bite.

Truly, this was a day of rest for me.  The only thing on my list was pick up my new prescription and get a few groceries.  It took all of two seconds for that to be waylaid.  It's Saturday and everyone got paid for the month.  Walmart and Target parking lots are full to the brim.

I was headed to Tar-sjay for the pills that the doctor said to get from the cheap guy Mark Cuban.  Too bad for me, the office called the script in to Tar-sjay.  Instead of $5.90, it was $35.90 WITH my discount.  Any other shopping was out of the question due to the huge crowds.

By the time I got out of there, it was noon.  NEVER go to town when you are hungry.  I drove around scoping out the location of the big event I was to attend as a representative of the Elks Lodge.  It happened to be just across the street from KFC!!!  

I mean just look at this beauty!  It's a HUGE bun and the chicken is even bigger!!  Remember, I try these things so you don't have to.  Except for the overabundance of mayo, it was fabulous.  I admit, I do like the SPICY chicken better, but this really hit the spot for $7.00.

I figured I might as well bite the bullet and try this one for you also.  This is Mac n cheese with nuggets, a $5.00 item.  I haven't eaten it yet.  It's for lunch today, so I'll report later.  AND they now have a chicken pot pie for $5.00.  I'll try that next time.

In what seemed like minutes, I was off to the El Capitan Cheer Squad dinner to raise money for them to fly to Florida for the championships.  This is a Bingo charity item.  Almost anything that involves kids, gets a help out from us.   

We always buy the whole table, then pass the tickets out to any member who wants to attend.  The problem arises when they do NOT attend ... as they didn't on this night.  Four folks did not show up.  That's a no-no, so guess who won't be getting any more tickets.  

Those of us who did show up were surprised to find appetizers and wine on our table.  Woohoo!!  Drinks were extra, so I just had coke.  As we waited for dinner, the band serenaded us with the loudest music I've ever heard, out of amps taller than me.  It's an old building with absolutely NO acoustics, so you can imagine we were screaming at each other across the table.

There was a live auction for these items ... sad that you have to bid for graduation tickets because they only allow 4 per family.  I'm not sure if the cake comes with it or not.  

Want to have a big party?  This one gets you 100 jello shots, a big bottle of booze and a crazy candy cake.

There were more, but as you can see, the men were not impressed.  By the way, our wine was Red Portugal (??).  I declined on that one.

Dinner was amazing.  We were supposed to eat at 6:00.  We got ours at 7:00 and were the first to be served since we donated a chunk of moolah.  NICE!!  Smoked tri tip, Mac n cheese, the best green beans I think I've ever had and a salad with everything in it but the kitchen sink.  YUM!!  

The bad part was it was way past 8:30 before the last folks got served.  I'm not sure what the problem was, possibly that only one waitress was serving over 120 folks. 

There was also a silent auction with many baskets full of great stuff.  It was suggested maybe we could bid on this one made by a particular girl so she could get credit since she's one of the cheerleaders.  No problemo!!  I'm really good at silent auctions when it isn't my money!!  

Of course we won, but I had a terrible time getting this huge thing out the door.  It's a baby basket for a new mom.  None of us know any new moms, but I'm sure we will find someone.

Except for the boom boom boom of the really REALLY loud music, we had a great time.  I'm pretty sure us old folks were the first ones out the door at 9:00.  Oh my gosh ... the quiet was SO nice!!!

I actually have a do-nothing day today, then it's back to work tomorrow.  I foresee that my hours will be shorter every day.  Just don't tell the boss!!

Work Day #1

We are about 33 days from Halloween (I didn't count exactly) and it's STILL 95-100 degrees here.  Whoever is pulling the string dragging us closer to the sun, would you please quit?  Just like everything else, it's cyclical ... you can look back over the years and see its happened before, but boy would I like to see some cool weather again.  I'm a flannel shirt/levis gal with very few summer things to wear.  

Surprisingly however, I received my PG&E usage assessment and I'm in the lowest percentage of homes in my entire town, even with my AC going quite often.  I guess I'm also just a desert girl.

This was pretty amazing to watch ... the hurricane Helene (don't you wonder who names these things?) started out as just a storm.  One minutes it looked like this .....

And the next it looked like THIS!!  Yikes!!  I guess if you were born there, you get used to it.  I'm hoping they get everyone's power back on quickly.  

I got up at the usual time, but my normal schedule was not to happen.  Shades of getting up and going to work flew through my head.  I'm seriously not liking this so much, but off I headed to the OFFICE.  The doors were locked and there were no cars in the parking lot.  I was SURE the bookkeeper was there, so I called and she came to open the door.  Rarely is the kitchen ever closed down, which is my normal entrance.

I plopped in the chair and looked around.  There is stuff stacked everywhere from the floor halfway to the ceiling.  How anyone could work in this mess is beyond me.  I contemplated completely tearing the place apart, but decided it wasn't my problem.   First things first, check for emails.  

My oh my ... the secretary doesn't erase anything.  This is crazy!!  I spent more time hunting for things than I did doing work because nothing is bookmarked.  You have to look up every program.  I guess it works for her, but it could be SO much easier to navigate!!  I'm beginning to see why it takes so long to get the work done.

It took us several tries to print out membership cards for folks who came in and paid.  The problem was how to put the sheet cards in the printer.  That brought on rounds of laughter as we missed the right spot time after time.

If it weren't for the bookkeeper, I probably would have gone screaming out the door.  There were lots of payments for Jamboree tickets to process, before I went looking for our mail.  We actually have a slot where the mail falls into a box.  This time it included several payments for dues.  Oh boy, another huge computer program to be learned in ten minutes.  Luckily I figured that out in record time.  TADA!!  I actually did something RIGHT!!  

The next hour was spent on my phone.  I wanted SO badly to reorganize everything so I could at least get my feet under the desk, and my fingers in between the file folders in the drawer, but I figured it wasn't my space, so I should leave it alone.  It could be ever so much more efficient.

After five hours, I headed out the door.  I had packages being delivered and I didn't want them stolen off the porch like my neighbor had happen the day before.  Here it is ... my new floor mats for the rig.  Rather hard to get in place because it's one big piece, but it fits perfectly.  Yeah, it's flexible plastic rubber-ish not rubber, but hopefully will last a long time.   At least now when Cooper's water spills, it won't run under the seat and into the electronics.

Next up, I forked out the money for a doggie ramp.  The one I was trying to make on the cheap just wasn't going to work.   It was not Cooper approved.  Neither is this one, but he's at least using it ... sort of.  It's completely adjustable, so I kept it low to begin with. 

He jumped up on the old set up last week and went completely sideways, falling to the floor.  I'm hoping this will curtail the jumping part.  It also has a handle, so it's easy to carry and will lay flat.  It's a little wide, leaving me zero space when seated on the couch in the rig, but it will work with a little practice.

As for the quilts ... they are all on hold.  The second I got home, I crashed on the couch ... even missing the latest and almost the last rodeo of the season.  I guess I've just been away from working for too long.  That is a GOOD thing! 

I would like to have a day off, but alas, I'm headed for a fundraiser dinner.  When Bingo donates money, many times it is to buy a "table" at a fundraiser.  There have been times when no one showed UP for that dinner ... a complete no-no in my book.  Whoever gets the tickets should GO!!  It makes us look bad if you do not attend.

This one is for an elementary school cheer squad who is actually going to the National Finals in Florida.  A good portion of our donations go to school organizations like baseball, soccer, swim teams and football.  In fact, we were recently named number one in the central district for donations to school children.  How cool is that!!

The good news is I will have ALL DAY SUNDAY to gear up for another fascinating day as Secretary!!

You Just Have To Shake Your Head!

 Am I the only one that has crazy experiences?  Do I have something stamped on my forehead that says MESS WITH HER???  

Thankfully, my ever sweet puppy dog starts the day out right every single time.  How could I not love this kid.  It didn't last long however ... I had a doctor's appointment.  

Okay, I know I live in a small podunk town where no Doctor in his right mind would want to practice medicine.  All the good guys have retired and we are now stuck with the NEW breed.  Here's what that means.

My appointment was at 10:00.  I arrived to find four folks in the waiting room.  One I'm sure was a homeless guy, along with two high school age looking kids and one 30-something.  The forms I had to fill out were epic.  They asked things like WHAT were you born?  Female or Male.  What are you NOW?  Female or Male.  Are you kidding me?  What would you like to be called ... he, she, thou ... it went on and on.  I was THAT close to walking out.

They wanted my picture, I declined.  They wanted my monthly income, I declined.  They wanted to know things like am I happy with my partner.  Do I have sexual problems with him/her/it.  Does he beat me.  Not kidding here ... it was so far out in left field I laughed out loud, which drew ugly looks from everyone. 

So here I am staring at the floor about to walk out the door when the nicest looking of the group walked out grumbling before I could stand up.  We had both been sitting there for 90 minutes while they ushered in the next four people that walked in the door AFTER us.  I got up and had a little talk with the girls at the counter.  

I was escorted back in less than two minutes.  The doctor was something else altogether, but at least it was a real doctor, not a nurse.  He didn't even ask why I was there, but went on about how I needed to be proactive, have test after test AND set up a MONTHLY phone meeting with a nurse who would ask me the same questions he was asking.  

It's the way of medicine he said .... government controlled.  I said no.  He insisted saying somewhere there was a 400 pound man sitting in a chair eating candy who is using up all of his and MY medicare money on himself.  Might as well use it too he stated.  I see the writing on the wall, because that money will go into HIS pocket.  I said no for the third time.

Not once did he ask why I was there.  I finally interrupted him to say it was for different blood pressure medicine because this one was bothering me.  I gave him the notes I had made on what the readings were for the last week.  He threw them in the trash.  He insisted I buy a particular blood pressure machine (I already have TWO) and he took my phone, looked it up on Amazon and put it in my cart.  WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON!!!

Finally, he mentioned the name of the new medicine.  It escapes me now.  You should have seen his face when I told him I buy all my meds in Mexico!!!  I laughed out loud again.  He insisted I go online ... he took my phone once again ... and looked up Mark Cuban CostPlus Drug Company.  What is $25 at Walmart, is only $5.90 on that site.  They mail the prescription to you, whatever that cost might be.  I actually agreed with this one, but when I got home, the OFFICE had sent the prescription to Target CVS.  Really??

I finally walked out with an appointment in TWO MONTHS, by phone of course, because there's no need for offices any more, whereupon he stated that I should stick to accounting and HE will be the DOCTOR.  I'm pretty sure after I pick up this first prescription, he will never see me again.  You just have to shake your head.

Want to hear more?  I went to the Elks Lodge to play secretary, but couldn't get in the door.  The one who held the magic key forgot to bring it.  I sat down for lunch ... a magnificently HUGE club sandwich with onion rings ... $12.00.  Boy do I love our kitchen!  This is all that was left.

Alas I found a key person and sat down at a desk with the most uncomfortable chair I've ever sat in.  I don't mean to complain, but GEEZ!!!  I couldn't get anything out of the files because they were so completely packed in the drawer I couldn't get my finger in between the folders.  Oh yeah, this is going to be a HOOT!!!

 I'll fill you in tomorrow, because this is already WAY too long and I have to get ready to head back today.

It's All In The Presentation

It's another wonderful day in sunny California, which makes me appreciate NOT having huge hurricane-like storms hitting my house like this one in Florida.  YIKES!!  I don't think I could stand the stress.  

When traveling in my big RV back east, following Barbara and Tom Westerfield, we hit several big storms that scared me to death.  The wind and water was so bad it pulled my electric hose (which was attached to the rig) ... right on down the gutter.  

My slides were pulled in and we were rocking and rolling as I sat on the couch with the puppies, calling Barbara every ten minutes.  Should we head to the tornado shelter???  I do not EVER want to experience that again.  I think it happened at least three times on that trip!  Let's face it, I'm a wimp when it coms to storms!!!

Back to sunny California, it's HOT once again.  I was pretty tired from Bingo, so I tried to sneak in a nap to prepare for the impending MEETING.  I truly try to miss all of these go-to-another-Elks-Lodge meetings.  I'm not a social butterfly.  I've been extremely shy all my life ... a sit in the corner kind of gal.

Only lately have I forced myself to actually talk to people I don't know.  So to try and gather up some brave, I had my favorite lunch.  Chicken pot pie.  It's all in the presentation, don't you think?  I mean really, of they served this to you in a restaurant, you would probably say NOPE ... not today.  

I on the other hand, do not care what it looks like if it tastes good.  I admit, the nasty slimy Cooper ball sitting on the table did not whet my appetite.  Still, it was quite tasty and gave me the strength to pay a couple of bills.  

Truly, I debated even going to the meeting when I found out our ER (president guy) was sick with strep throat.  He said he got his flu shot AND his Cvd shot two days ago and got sick as could be.  I decided I should drive myself in my virus-free truck just to be sure.  It was a long 90 minute drive up into the mountains.

I have driven this route many MANY times in my past motorcycle life as Miss Patty Chance will attest.  I snuck past the big accident where two cars ran over the bank and parked in the first little town of Jamestown.  I'm happy to say nothing has changed up there, though a few businesses have left the country.  

That's when I discovered this is not an easy location to find.  I followed my GPS on the scenic route, having missed the first switchback turn.  I found the building at the top of a very high mountain and parked for a few minutes, gearing up my SOCIAL personality.  It all went downhill from there.  Well not exactly, but the secretary did not make a reservation for me.  Come to find out, she did not make a reservation for THREE of us.  

This is a small lodge with beautiful accommodations for about 60 folks.  As I walked in, our Treasurer motioned me over as he had saved a seat for me.  Nice.  Especially since at these functions, the women sit at one table and chat while the men sit at another.  I always seem to go against the grain as I sat down at the MENS table.  You want to know what they talk about?  I can't tell you ... but it involves alcohol.

In no time, dinner was served.  We had a lovely salad and a REAL Hawaiian dinner roll ... YUM.  Someone mentioned as they set our plates of food down ... it's all in the presentation.  This is it ... corn and smoked half a chicken.  It may not be pretty, but that corn was DELICIOUS ... as was the chicken, cooked to perfection.  

The problem was how to eat it without using your fingers, while ensconced in a long sleeve jacket and white blouse.  Some came home on my lap, but the rest in a nice to-go box.  

Time for the lodge meeting.  As I've mentioned in the past, the Elks lodge is all about tradition, pomp and circumstance.  The order of things is the same at every lodge ... except here.  Tradition got thrown out the window.  I like that ... I was having a good time, but I could hear the rumbling of "what the heck?"

They got through everything, even if it was out of order.  Who cares was my thought.  

At long last the meeting was over and I of course, headed straight for the door.  I mentioned I was hoping I could find my way out, and a nice gentleman said I could follow his car.  YAY!  The bad part is due to my bionic eyes, I don't see all that well at night.  In the ocean scuba diving (which is why I have different eyes) I can see great.  On a dark country road with no white lines to follow?  Not so much.

The good news is I know the roads pretty well, kept my lights on high beam every chance I could, and made it home in one piece.  It's going to be a quick morning with a doctor's visit (which won't be quick at all I'm sure) before my first day of playing secretary.  I'l let you know how that turns out!!!

Bingo Bingo .....

It was a nice calm, quiet night.  Too bad my eyes just would NOT shut.  It's okay, I'll try to make up for that today around noon!!  

I spent much of the morning watching the weather be weird.  Much of western Canada is under stormy skies while we lounge around in the 90's.  In the meantime, I've heard tales for two days of a massive storm heading right for Florida.  I didn't see much of it at all until this morning, but there is no spinning ... so far anyway ... the telltale sign of a hurricane.  I've got my fingers crossed for Dave, who just arrived home, only to pack for an emergency exit.  

I tried very hard to rest up all day long before the 2:30 onslaught of Bingo and all things Trustee in the office.  That worked until I got an invitation for lunch.  Who could turn down a great meal in the best Mexican restaurant in town?  

Then I made a mad dash back to the house to make sure Mr. Cooper was set for the night.  As I got near the back door, he was howling the saddest sounds I've ever heard.  He was SO LONELY!!  I hung around as long as I possibly could before heading back out to the Magic Castle.

 Into the lions den I walked.  That's when I found out that my first day on the job will be tomorrow and NO ONE will be there but me.  Wait, WHAT??  I don't think I signed up for this!!  The good news is I have not one, but TWO help line numbers on speed dial.  This should be fun, yes?

I went downstairs to set up, but there was so much grumbling and complaining going on about how much money THAT person spent and how THAT one always wins, that I made a U-turn and went right back up to hide in a quiet corner of the building.

Soon it was time for that favorite neck throttling game of Bingo.  Things went quite well.  We ran out of programs which tell you exactly what you need to win, meaning many folks had to SHARE (the dreaded word in Bingoland), we ran out of speed bingo cards, we ran out of register tape, and we forgot to get our life breathing COCA COLA before we opened.   

Here's the thing ... if you want to win, you have to spend LOTS of moolah and not care one bit if you lose it or not.  THOSE folks are the ones that win.  I don't think it's the crazy amulet you wear every week or the color of dobber you use.

As you can see, it's just as stressful on the caller!!  When you scream BINGO, a worker runs over to the table and reads a number off your card.  How it works, I don't know, but the machine knows if that is a good bingo or not.  There were EIGHT winners, and as you can tell, he has already pulled out much of his hair!!  They got $31.00 each.

The gal?  She's one of the lucky ones.  I don't know how much she spends every week, but she goes to at least four other places to play.  She won over $1,000 at our Bingo alone.  I rub her shoulder every chance I get, hoping some of her good luck will rub off on me.  Just kidding ... she's a great lady and a good friend.  This is big business because overall she will pick up $2-3,000 a week playing Bingo.  Pretty crazy.

Luckily there were no fights on this night and no hair pulling, but a LOT of complaining about SHE WON AGAIN??  The infernal machine was pretty nice to me at the end, just in time to find out that the extra BACKUP infernal machine ... should this one lose it's programming ... was unplugged long enough to completely lose it's mind.

In a poof of smoke, it became a blank canvas.  Big sigh ... there are only two people who know how to program it.  I'm one ... and the other is in Chicago.  

I'm sure I can find time to do that ... NOT ... while I'm in the office on my first day as Secretary ... ALONE.  Oh boy ... this is going to be just peachy as I explain I DON'T HAVE A CLUE HOW TO DO THAT.

But FIRST ... let's get all dressed up and head out of town to another Lodge for THEIR audit.  My ride however is sick ... on antibiotics he said.   YIKES ... sorry, but there's no WAY I'm riding with you!  I'll take my OWN car.  I would cancel, but this one has already been paid for ... so I'm kind of stuck.

It should be an interesting few days!!!  If you don't hear from me, it's because I ran screaming off into the forest!!!

Skills ... I've Got Skills

What a day ..... WHAT A DAY!!  Some days you should just stay in bed.  But alas, I'm always up early with my kid that keeps me going every single day.   

So there I was, enjoying my fake coffee, relaxing on the couch while trying to figure out what pattern to stitch on the latest quilt.  I just wasn't in the mood ... lazy comes to mind, but maybe too distracted by the brain games we play in the morning.  Some times the answer comes in a flash ... some times they take hours.

That's when I got the call.  The Elks Lodge secretary has a family emergency in of all places ... TEXAS.  We have no one ... and I mean NO ONE ... who can do the work, or even knows the slightest thing about what the work actually IS.  I've got secretary skills, and unfortunately, too many people know it.

Big sigh ... the problem is I'm the only one who is retired.  Everyone else already HAS a job.  And so I drove down to the office to see exactly what needed to be done to keep the office open.  Closing it is not an option.

My first suggestion, maybe we can hire our OLD secretary back for a couple of weeks, went over like a lead balloon.  Shot down completely with a dirty look included for good measure.  Okay OKAY!!!  I'll do what I can, but I'm RETIRED and I'm not working ALL DAY LONG!

The worst part is the convoluted way new member signups and initiations are handled.  They could not make it more complicated, and of course the initiation is next week.  Follow that up with getting the newsletter out ... another complicated process due to the requirements of the Post Office ... and I have my work cut out for me.  At least I know how to open the mail!!

For even more fun and games, I went to my first Quilt Guild meeting last night.  I'm truly not a "club" person, especially when I only know ONE person there.  I arrived on time, met some nice ladies and picked a seat at a table right in front of the fan.  It seems the AC wasn't working.

Oh wait ... I have TWO friends here.  Diane, the special quilter of the quilt show and Anne, who has done lots of quilting for me in the past.  They even provided dinner before going over the entire quilt show.  Wow am I ever impressed with the amount of work it took to put on that show.  How do they have time to quilt???

All the rest was too boring for a blog, except for THIS girl.  I'm guessing she's 20-something?  She designed and made this quilt herself, and will be featured in one of the latest and greatest quilting magazines.  This girl has talent.  Let's face it ... you are either a math person or a language person.  Language people seem to be SO artistic.  I'm a math person, so that explains a lot.

I went home a little more motivated to try new quilting things, until I remembered it's BINGO night.  From here on out, I guess I'll be holding down a chair at the lodge for maybe 5 hours a day.  It's going to be an exhausting week of figuring out computer programs, a night lodge meeting in the big town of Sonora, and more work which hopefully just includes answering the phone to say "I have no idea"!!

The good part of all this is I get free lunch ... and maybe I'll even get PAID!!!

Every Day Is A Good Day

 Summer has decided to stick around another couple of weeks.  It's going to be a HOT Halloween, so I'm guessing there won't be many spectacular costumes ... maybe a bathing suit or two!!  Oh yes, 90 degrees yesterday, supposed to be 95 today.

I left sleeping dog lying on the couch after our morning walk.  Sadly, we don't go very far any more.  Neither of us have the fitness required ... Mr. Cooper to walk two miles and me to carry him back home when he decides it's time to quit.  He just stops, sits down and says CARRY ME MOM!!

I spent way too much time on my computer looking up silicone covers for the induction stove top, tire monitoring systems (boy have their prices exploded), and doggie treats.  My kid is so persnickety!!  And obviously VERY spoiled.  Hey ... he has provided me 15 years of the best company ever ... he deserves it for putting up with me!!

I started out quilting this National Park project, but didn't get far.  I really don't have many patterns that will work with this theme.  Back on the computer I went for a couple of hours trying to find SOMETHING acceptable.  There's nothing more daunting than going through 50 designs on a page, with 79 pages to go.  I gave up.

Maybe picking up the house will result in more progress.  I have a kitchen table completely full of STUFF that needs to go in the rig.  You will be surprised to hear I have actually cleaned all the fabric out of this box in order to hold things like oil and dog food.  No kidding, storage space is at a premium, so every square inch must be filled up with something.

That brought about an hour's worth of reorganizing the largest overhead storage space in the rig.  It didn't go well.  Everything came out, everything went back in and came out again.  A folding camp chair, a large tripod for photography, dog food, all the How-To reading material for the rig, Jonathan's heater ... and nothing seemed to fit right.  I guess I'll be back working on that today.

No need to travel to Sweden ... just stay outside in the van for 30 minutes and you'll be sweating like you are in a Swedish sauna.  Note to self .... do this stuff in the early MORNING!  

In an effort to cool off a bit, I whipped up some lime cheesecake.  I've discovered it's much easier to skip all the crushed graham cracker part that makes such a mess of the kitchen, and go straight for the yummy part.  Talk about a refreshing COOLING snack ... I made ten of them and stashed them in the freezer.  Out of sight, out of mind so I don't eat them all at once.  It's also portion control so I don't eat half of an entire cheesecake all at once.

With no great rodeos to watch since it's the end of the year with a couple months for the guys to heal up a bit before the National Finals, I went back to sewing.  This is going on the Elk quilt.  It's tedious, cutting all those little squares down to the perfect size.  

It's hard to concentrate since I'm always thinking about how to make more room in the van.  The next thing I knew, it was bed time.  Time flies when you're having fun!!

But of course that FUN included a 30 minute session crawling around on the floor with the Kid before we could hit the sack!!

Today should be full of frustration as I try to figure out how to use a dash cam.  Trying to take pictures while driving has become a questionable practice for an old lady.  More electronic gadgets to figure out!!  

No worries though ..... every day is a good day in spite of the heat and the reminder that I'm not a spring chicken any more!!!

Let Sleeping Dogs Lie

It's the first day of Fall.  If you told me that, I wouldn't believe you.  It was 70 degrees overnight, with a high of 92 today.  That doesn't sound like FALL weather to me!!  Pretty soon we'll be cooking that Thanksgiving turkey while we lay in the sun by the pool!!  I don't even want to TALK about Christmas!!

There was a lot more talk yesterday about fuel.  Here's what we discovered.  Even though my friend and I have the same engine in our camper vans, hers says she can use MAX B20 fuel .... mine says MAX B5 fuel.  After talking to everyone and doing a little more research, just plain old #2 diesel is the best.  

It's not much of a problem anywhere except California, or so I'm told.  I mean surely you wouldn't expect California to be like all the other states!  It's also interesting to note that Flying J and Pilot have switched to B20.  No problem there, their prices have become so outlandish that I would not stop there anyway. 

And so to further my research, I left sleeping dogs lie while I headed out to the (shhhhhhh) Fabric Store.

I stopped by a Sinclair station and a Union 76 station to find that both sold diesel #2, before heading to my usual Quik Stop who also sells diesel #2.  It's funny, I never bothered to look before.  While there, I fueled up my truck.  This is my go-to station, about 15 miles down the road.  It was $4.39 a gallon.  The Sinclair station was $5.69.  The Arco station around the corner is $5.49, so obviously it pays to shop around when you are filling up a 50 gallon tank.

Sleeping dogs were still laying around as I hit the (shhhhhh) fabric store!

I was looking for the light green border this panel needed to make it pop!  Sadly, it looked terrible with that color.  I found out that all Yellowstone Elk panels are not alike.  I ended up with a pea soup green.  It really does look a little better in person.  I'm hoping the flying geese around the edges will fly in on their own and not cause me troubles.  There's a lot more math involved in those.

When I got home, sleeping dogs were still sleeping.  Mr. Cooper always greets me at the door, but apparently his hearing is not what it once was.  This time I caught him snoozing.

I know, too many doggie pictures, but I can't help it.  Back to the diesel question ... though I used to look for truck stops for fuel, it appears I will be heading to gas stations instead.  It is interesting however that ALL fuel in Bakersfield is a dollar cheaper PER GALLON than where I am.  Why is that???

Dinner was terrible.  I admit, that happens quite often around here, which is why I like Panda Express and Marie Callendars.  I tried the parmesan on the crust grilled cheese and tomato sandwich.  I used WAY too much parmesan.  Though it didn't taste all that bad, it made me sick as a dog who was NOT sleeping.  It could have been the expired by 6 months parmesan.  

My tip of the day is do NOT try this.

Oh LOOK who's awake just in time to go to BED!!  This is his you-just-try-to-take-my-toy-away stance.

Now that I have the diesel figured out, it's on to why my propane tank is almost empty after NO use.  I guess we know what THAT means!!!

Last question ... I want to put tire monitoring sensors on the wheels of this rig, but the inside dual is unreachable.  Can I put an extension on that?  And where might I have THAT done?  

Mystery Solved and Diesel

 We are climbing back up the ladder of discomfort, heading for a week of back-to-90-degree heat.  Come on Mother Nature ... we are used to wearing long pants and jackets this time of year.  Instead, I still have the air conditioning running!!

The good news is the mystery was solved.  Whew ... that was a relief!  The mystery man came back at 8:30 the next morning and again rang the bell.  This time I opened the door and who should I find?  Not the boogey man, not a burglar and not Jake from State Farm ... it was my GARDENER!

I had told him he could leave his mower in the back yard for the week ... no problem.  Call me when you need it for your next job.  I just didn't recognize his CAR versus his TRUCK.  What a relief THAT was!!  He just came to pick it up.  I really do live in a nice neighborhood, but the HOOD section has been getting closer and closer over the years.  You can't be too careful when that happens.

After a big sigh of relief, I went to work on this quilt.  It's time to think about something other than the Elks.

Though it is smaller, the backing I bought was not big enough without being pieced.  That quickly became a BIG problem since not only would I have to cut on the lines, but this piece of fabric was directional.  What a pain!!

The solution was to cut and paste several pieces together.  I hate that!!  It requires a lot of math.

It took several hours to figure this out and get it sewed together.  So here is the BACKING!  It's going to be even HARDER to get it on the longarm so the center piece is actually in the CENTER of the back. I've done this before and it was a disaster.  It's going to take a LOT of thinking!!

Since this is a small quilt, there's no use wasting batting by cutting it from the roll.  I took several pieces of leftovers and stitched them together.  Can you see the seam?  

Before that one goes on the machine however, THIS one had to come OFF.  Another Cooper approved quilt, this one was destined for the front of the rig, though to be honest, I'm thinking I would rather stitch a couple of sheets together with batting inside.  The front of this is just leftovers, but the back was a rather expensive piece of fabric.

My afternoon was spent trying to catch up on a few Zzzzz's, which was interrupted by a phone call.  My friend who owns the same Van called to related her oil change story.  Luckily she found a place only 40 miles away.  I about had a heart attack when she told me the price of $800.  This is not your mother's oil change.  

When I think about it though ... my truck holds a lot of oil, but can only go half as far, so in the end, the cost is about the same.  We talked everything dumping tanks ..... her hose is not long enough and she has been dumping before it's full ... and about Dave losing his hoses due to the cap coming off.  That prompted me to pin my cap and recommend she do the same.

Then the bad news.  My control panel says I have only half a tank of propane left.  I only used propane twice.  Once for a 15 minute generator run and once for a ten minute heater run.  Since my friend went to Alaska and back and still has 99 percent left in her tank, I'm guessing I have a problem.  Ugh ... it's always something!!  I'll have to call and see if I can get that looked at.

Dinner was pretty simple ... one quarter of that lovely baked potato and one quarter of that way too fatty rib eye.  I know, I'm weird.  Born and raised on a cattle ranch and I would rather eat CHICKIN!!!!!

Here's another thing I learned about the Mercedes diesel engine today.  It has the same finicky taste for food that I do.  They recommend only B5 fuel, not the B20 that every gas station serves up today.  They said B20 would kill my TRUCK'S diesel engine, but it's still running great, mostly because I change the fuel filter more often and do not live in a freezing environment.  

By the way, I just learned about this stuff ... B5 means 5% biodiesel is added and B20 means 20% is added.  Biodiesel is bad for the engine, gunks it up requiring fuel filter changes more often and if you live in a freezing part of North Dakota, it's supposed to crystalize ... a bad thing.  

Though I probably could just fill it up with any old diesel available, I probably should try for B5 if I can find it.  That's a problem since stations do not advertise the fact.  My friend did her research and says Sinclair stations usually carry the better grade fuel.  

And so today as I head to the (ssshhhhh don't say it out loud) FABRIC STORE, I'll check out a few stations and see what I can find.  

Guys out there with diesel engines ... can you verify the diesel questions???