SLINGS AND ARROWS

 Welcome back to central California and the Magic Kingdom of Bingo!!  Oh yes, it's another rousing day of catching flaming torches, pitchforks and steel arrows right in the heart.  But FIRST ........

Let's run off for another rousing hour of accounting.  The good news is I'm getting much better at knowing where to go online to actually DO the accounting.  

The problem popped up three days ago when I decided it was time to actually COOK that nine month old turkey.  Yessiree ... it's been sitting in the freezer for nine months.

The Accountant called for help when I had 60 minutes left on the timer. Lucky me, the timer went off as I walked BACK in the kitchen door.  I cut and hacked it up, practicing my knife skills for Bingo.  Unfortunately, it tasted TERRIBLE.  It was the worst Butterball I've ever put in my mouth, but I'm guessing that's because somewhere along the line it got thawed out and refrozen.  No worries, it will make good kitty food.

Cooper on the other hand, get's the PRIMO stuff.  I picked up this pork loin for $2.99 a pound when hamburger was $8.99 a pound.  That's just downright crazy.  I even got a slice or two of this one!

Surprise!!  The automatic dog food feeder showed up at my door unannounced.  False advertising ... it's nowhere NEAR this size.  In total it's maybe 18" tall and says it holds 50 cups.  That should last the entire time, assuming I don't have a power outage and it has to reset itself.  Once I heal up from bingo, I will read the 45 pages of directions and see if I can get it to work.

It was finally time to head off to Bingoland.  Oh so sadly, my Fairy Godmother is gone to a REAL job.  That means someone has to set up the machines, PROGRAM the machine and set up six televisions so they project the games and the next ball.  

THIS is why I get the big bucks.  I previously took pictures of every plug-in and hookup.  There's a LOT to hook up and if you get it wrong, you can blow up the machine.  Lovely connection there, yes??

This one is even better!  The TVs gave me fits, but eventually I got it from HDMI to AV2 where it lives.  I got lambasted by players that I posted two numbers TOO early, so next time I won't make THAT mistake.  I pulled the flaming arrow from my back and went to get the games.

Yup I took a picture of THAT too.  These were the games put out three weeks ago.  This way I know the names of each game to be played, and more particularly, the ORDER to be played.  Believe me, these peasants will kill you with their eyes if you don't get this right.

Sadly, on this night, we only had 90 players.  That means we only played 8 games instead of our normal 9 or 10.  The poor sellers had to work their butts off to get the boxes sold.  Every card in a box must be sold before we can call the game. 

I only called two instead of the normal four.  Hopefully some day I get more confident with that.  I'm so intent on the board and where the little ping pong balls go that I forget what I'm supposed to SAY.  

In the meantime, we had a new kitchen volunteer come in ... a very sweet lady.  Too bad they just stuck her on the side and didn't teach her ANYTHING.  If you want someone to learn something, you have them DO IT.  I'm thinking she won't be back.  Standing there for three hours cannot be fun.  I AM however, really trying hard to stay out of that altogether.  I'm just the complaint department.  

And of course I got complaints.  The chili was burned.  How do you burn chili in a crock pot with a liner?  Apparently you can.  The Nacho Cheese?  Also burned.  Good grief folks ... you don't have to COOK anything, you just have to heat it up.  I ran out the back door at 10:00

And NOW I'm getting ready for another rousing night boondocking in the back yard, BECAUSE I found a perfect camping spot over on the coast where I can go for just a night or two ... hopefully at least once a month!!!

Now ... where did I put that instruction book for the feeder?

What Are Pipe Cleaners

 Woohoo ... it was with great satisfaction that I woke up at 5:00 am.  I actually feel like I caught up on sleep for once.  Even Mr. Cooper slept in.  That's a miracle!  As you can guess however, we were NOT camping out.  Bingo day requires mucho shuteye before tackling the peasants at the Magic Castle.

First things first, Mr. Cooper has to go out IMMEDIATELY.  There's no messing around unless you want the mess.  Lookie here ... Kitters is sleeping in the box.  No worries, I'll fix up something nice and cozy for her before any trips.  AND I ordered a very expensive DOG food dispenser ... automatic and all that.  Not sure it's going to work, but it will hold enough food for 60 days.

I went out to check the batteries since I left the van unhooked all day and night.  The only thing on was the inverter, meaning the light on the microwave, and the iPads hung on the wall that run everything.  It was still at 82% since the solar was working just a bit.  Truly, the more I use it boondocking, the more confidence I will have.  

That's when I noticed this.  Hmmm someone tried to walk up the window.  It's Kitters of course, since she has tiny feet.  Looking for another way IN, I suppose.

Then I broke out laughing!!!  This is hilarious!  Apparently she decided to jump up the OTHER side and missed by just a hair, landing on her belly!  It also appears I need to wash this thing again!  Almond harvest season covers everything in a thick dust.

Having finally gotten my prescription for glasses, I was off to Costco early.  I have always gone in the door at 9:00.  On this day however, I was stopped.  YOU CAN'T COME IN.  Ummm I've been coming in every month for years ... why not now?  YOU ARE NOT AN EXECUTIVE MEMBER.  Excuse me?  I AM TOO!!  

That brought about a trip to the office.  It seems when they decided to use my Costco Citicard as a membership card (when they took my old one and would not give it back) .... they did not renew it as an Executive card.  Nancy was not a happy camper.  They took my credit card, made copies and made me take another awful picture.  It was NOT a good hair day!!  I finally got my card back after they made the correction.  Sheeeish!!

Then it was on to picking out frames.  I'm just as bad at this as I am at quilt colors.  The nice lady was quick to point out that I picked the most expense sunglasses frame in the store.  Of COURSE I did.  It took almost an hour, but I can't fault her.  She was kind enough to figure out which pair would get the biggest discount through my Vision Program.  In the end, I had to pay $295 for both frames.  At the last eye doctor (where I am never going again) ... I paid $635.00.  Crazy, yes?

From there I went through town to finish up some accounting work and stopped by Hobby Lobby.  In the back of my mind I remembered they do not do Halloween, but I hoped to at least find some orange ribbon and pipe cleaners. 

I could not find them, nor anyone to ask where they were after going up and down every aisle, so I went all the way back to the front of the store.  Where are the pipe cleaners please?  NO KIDDING ... she said "what are pipe cleaners?"  Maybe the kitchen section?  Ummmmm that would be a NO.  I came out with a nice WELCOME mat and one roll of ribbon.  Who works in a craft store and doesn't know what pipe cleaners are?

Back home, contemplating a trip to Hobby Lobby in the next town over, and since I now have three MORE tomatoes, I figured I better whip up another BLT.  No, I will never get tired of these.

I spent the rest of the afternoon/evening working on this quilt.  I SWEAR it's haunted.  I have never made so many mistakes sewing pieces together as I have with this one.  There's lots more pieces to go too.  Little black stars all around and in between, not to mention all the background fabric.  I admit, it's a little DARK looking ... more like rotten moldy pumpkins.  In my defense, it does look a little better in person!

And so I ended the day by plugging the rig back in.  I've looked up four Harvest Host places to camp out over towards the coast where heat won't be a problem.  Unfortunately things like doctor, dentist and vet appointments have gotten in the way, in spite of opting OUT of three Elks meetings.  

Yes, I'm playing hookey, but don't tell them!!!!

Time to get ready for the Magic Castle!!

OH ..... THAT'S WHY

 Good Morning once again!!  I'm still in sunny HOT California, boondocking in the van in the back yard.  If I'm going to get any use out of that Harvest Host membership, I need to learn how.  Practice makes perfect.  Mostly because this is not your "everything automatic" kind of set up.  

But first ... let's start with breakfast ... OUT.  My friends called and said they were on their way to a restaurant rather close to me.  Heck YEAH .... I can do that!!  

Later in the day ... OH ... that's why I don't do that.  I ate WAY too much and I was miserable for the next four hours.

Back home, I made quick work of those now TWELVE tomatoes, adding in mushrooms and Italian sausage this time.  It also has ground turkey.  Why would I ruin it with turkey you ask?  Because the cheapest hamburger here is $8.99 a POUND!!  Yup, that's why!!  Turkey was $5.99 ... still too expensive.  The sausage was the cheapest part!!

Once done and cooled, I put it in these small containers ... about enough sauce for two people.  Into the freezer it went for future meals.  It will be yummy dumped over a chicken breast and smothered in cheese.  Just a note here ... my friends six tomato plants produced maybe twelve tomatoes and died.  What's up with that?

All this time, I was preparing for a night of bliss in the rig.  I plugged it in and turned the fridge on to get it cold.  I wanted to see how much battery it would use up when it ran all night long.  The good news is I have a NIGHT mode that uses less power.

More pumpkins ensued.  I was either very tired or very distracted.  Operator error ... I kept sewing on pieces backwards.  It didn't take me long to stop that endeavor.

After more rodeo and chastising myself because I ate too much, I had one last bite of a Carmelita.  That's toffee, caramel and chocolate chips in between layers of oats and sugar!  Waste not, want not shrimp feed leftovers.  I'm determined to eat them up, one 1" square at a time.

In no time I was headed out to the rig, the moon shining brightly.  Even the stars were visible on this night.  Okay, put on your thinking cap and engage your brain.

OH ..... THAT'S WHY!  The charger only works when you are plugged in.  DUH!  So you can't turn it off because it's already NOT working.  I can and do turn it off when plugged in because it makes too much noise to sleep.  Okay, solved that one.  I unplugged and went into boondock mode.  In this picture taken earlier, you can see the green arrow that shows the solar is charging directly to the batteries.  

The fridge was running, so I put it on night mode to run less and quieter.  I probably could have turned the inverter off, but then the plugs won't work and I can't charge my phone overnight.  GOT IT!!

Sleeping was not to happen.  It was once again hot, though I had all the windows open.  I could have started up the generator for the AC, but there would definitely be no sleeping with THAT noise.  

That's when I heard it ... something tried to get in the side window.  What the heck?  OH ... THAT'S WHY.  Good grief ... Kitters had followed us.  She tried to jump though the window into the rig, but the screen stopped her as I heard her claws scraping down the side of the door.  Lovely.  She meowed around for a few minutes before apparently walking away.  

I'm practicing .... NO I CAN'T TAKE THE CAT WITH ME.  NO!!!  She would eat the parrot, then escape out the large sliding door and I'd be chasing her through the bushes.  NO!!!   That is NOT a good idea.  I'll just have to be sure she has an entire huge bag of food to eat (thinking I can put it in the now empty water trough) and fix up a water bowl to the sprinkler system.  

I can sleep, I can sleep ... I kept saying that as my eyes stayed wide open.  Thinking it was the fridge noise, I finally got up and turned it off.  Ahhhh quiet .... for all of ten minutes.  

That's when the noise began in earnest.  That darn charger is ON ... how can that be??  It says NO CHARGE.  

OH ... THAT'S WHY!  Big sigh ... when my neighbors put in their swimming pool, they put their equipment 12" from my fence, which happens to be five feet from my head.  It's REALLY noisy (sounds exactly like my charger running under the seat next to my head) and ran most of the night.  There was so sleep to be had until 4:00 am when it turned off.  Oh good .... I got one hours rest.

Mr. Cooper and I got up at 5:00 and headed back to the house.  The battery read 92%.  So tell me you RV guys out there ... they are lithium batteries.  How low can I go without damaging the batteries?  It appears boondocking will not be a problem, but I need to know my YIKES number.  As soon as the sun comes up, the solar starts charging again, so unless I'm parked under a canopy of trees, I should not have to worry.

Today will be another accounting day, followed by at least two hours of sleep on the couch.  I'm pretty sure I won't be boondocking tonight with Bingo happening tomorrow.  Sleep is always my friend when it comes to Bingo!!

Dazed and Confused

 Good Morning my friends ... and welcome to the land of van camping.  It was a wonderful night of great sleep and puppy cuddles.  Okay, you know that's not true ... since most of my latest and greatest plans don't seem to work out that well.

Here's Kitters, looking spiffy after having had 2 pounds of kitty hair brushed off her body.  She's also gained quite a bit of weight.  Time for that Vet appointment.  By the way, I never open the door that she is not right there, or snoozing in the bushes to the right.  She comes running every single time.

First things first, as always, water and check the tomatoes.  I admit, I'm getting rather tired of this routine.  I suppose it's the variety ... or how they have been altered by scientists and chemistry over the years, but they just do NOT taste like the tomatoes of old.  I'm thinking next year I need to look for some Beefsteaks.   That's what we used to grow on the ranch and the flavor was totally different than these.

I was literally a couch potato until 11:00 when I headed off to my third job ... accounting once again.  This time I was a little confused and frustrated.  The program supposedly expired and tried to require me to SIGN UP for a costly replacement.  The worst part, it would not let me into the program at ALL.  

I messed with that for an hour before finally being able to bypass stuff.  As I've said before, I'm a MAC girl and haven't used windows in 17 years.  That's a long time to remember how to work on a completely different kind of computer operating system.

My client is a 92 year old who still handles eight rentals.  Poor sweetheart sat on the couch while I spent over three hours getting her up to date.  From now on, I'll go more often!  

With that done, I used GREAT restraint as I drove PAST Hobby Lobby on the way home.  There was a method to my madness.  They are closed on Sundays, so that gives me one more day to talk myself out of those skeletons I want to hang on my front door.

The rest of the afternoon, I watched the PENDLETON RODEO Finals.  Here's a quick clip of what happens to the PVC bull fence.  It starts out bad, but keep watching.  It gets better, then repeats the best part of it.  The three guys in weird outfits running after the bull are the bullfighters ... supermen in my eyes.  They are keeping the bulls attention away from the people running for their lives!!

Fun stuff!  Now I know YOU don't think that, but if you're a cowboy or a cowgirl ... this is FUN STUFF!!  This is what made us scream and laugh on the ranch for years to come, as long as it wasn't US in the bulls path!!

And then it happened.  My day was completely ruined.  I'm a BAD puppy mom.  Mr. Cooper had been chewing on his back foot.  I tried to see what it was, but he was having none of it.  Just before bedtime, I reached down and rubbed the fur the wrong way.  WAIT ... there's something there!!

I held him down ... a feat in itself ... and grabbed it with my fingernails.  Out came a 1/2 inch long sticker, similar to a foxtail.  OMG that's been stuck in between his toes for two days and I never did see it.  I'm devastated he was in pain all that time.  

I doctored it up, so thankful that I was lucky enough to find it before it disappeared into his paw.  Big treats followed.  There will be no more walking down that road with the stickers and foxtails.

At last it was time to head out to the rig.  I had turned everything on earlier in the day, but alas, nothing was working.  Not the charger and not the inverter.  Big sigh!  I'm just not good at this stuff.  Rather dazed and confused, I checked the fuses first ... all was okay.  I turned everything on and off several times over an hour.  I could hear the charger running, but the touchpad would not turn it off.  It said Not Charging. 

In the past, I turned everything on ... then turned the charger off at night so I could sleep.  It refused to budge.  The inverter however was working just fine.

So here we are ... all tucked in for the night.  NOT!  Good grief, in spite of all the windows being open, and it being rather cool outside, it was HOT HOT inside.  Cooper was panting like crazy and would not settle down.  I was sweating up a storm.  

Okay, enough of THAT!  We went straight back to the house.  Today I'll turn everything off and on again, including the fridge (which runs on battery only) to see how long I can go before starting up the generator.  Why you ask?  Because most of these Harvest Host spots do NOT have electrical hookups, but DO allow you to use generators.  

As I stepped out the door, who should be waiting but KITTERS.  I think I've created a monster here.  She was sleeping by the van door.  Now I have TWO shadows following me around.  This is not good ... what will she do when I leave for a month?

And so I sit here while drinking the last of my morning cup of joe, contemplating a grocery run today.  Hmmmm I wonder if the Spirit of Halloween stores are open on Sunday!!!

NEVER EVER!!!

 Just when it looks like we are in FALL, I check the forecast and see three 90 degree days in our future.  That means the early 6:30 walks will continue.  Here we are before sunrise, smelling the smells along the road.  Mr. Cooper excels at that endeavor.

At least he did until that big dog barked at him, saying something bad.  Coop is usually not afraid ... but this time was different.  We literally ran all the way home.  No worries, I can use the exercise too!

There was another watering session, followed by tomato picking.  The fertilizer is working and the cherry tomatoes are back to normal size.  I'm pretty sure I will never EVER grow these again!  Watering every day is a pain!

I had plenty of time to get gussied up for accounting work until I called to say I was on my way.  Too bad the boss was gone for the day.  Well that certainly messed up my schedule.  That's when I got the text message.  Your bill is overdue.  NO WAY ... it's on AUTOPAY!

For all the fancy dancy electronic systems nowadays, these guys need to get their act together.  My credit card received a charge for zero dollars awhile back.  That's a bad sign, so I requested a new one.  Immediately upon receiving it, I updated all of my autopay accounts ... all 3 of them.  

About a week later, I received a text ... paid.  Two days later, another one ... not paid.  A week later, paid ... and this one ..... YOUR ACCOUNT IS PAST DUE.  I called, only to get Mason who could barely read the lines on his screen, let alone speak without running all his words together.  In other words, he had no clue, but he did read "IT TAKES 4-6 WEEKS TO CHANGE PAYMENTS".  Come on AT&T ... we're in the 2025's and you are stuck back in 1987!  I changed that 5 weeks ago!  

Don't tell me to change companies because I get a hefty discount on this bill, making it worth the headache.  It is supposedly fixed, but truthfully, I don't trust Mason one tiny bit.  We shall see what happens.

That's when I decided to try out this new sprayer I got for the bug spray bottle whose sprayer refused to work.  I should have just stayed on the couch!  I admit, this thing worked like a charm.  It was so easy to use, even if it did seem to use a lot of product.  I adjusted the spray nozzle and went on the hunt for bugs.  

The garage is the worst, so I sprayed it inside and out.  That was probably not my best idea of the day.

I can't say I will NEVER EVER do this again, but as I went around, I spotted all this STUFF!  Good stuff that I will never EVER use again, and yes, a lot of junk too.  That brought about a cleaning frenzy of sorts, ending up with a big pile.  What do I do with it now?  

Most of it went out to the curb with a FREE sign on it and the rest filled my garbage can to the brim.  I didn't even make a dent in the garage.  Somehow I need to get rid of ten big boxes full of receipts for my taxes that need to be shredded.  But not today!

I hate it when plans get changed because I just wander around the house wondering what I really need to get done.  This is where I ended up.  I started this quilt, so I need to finish it.  Lots of teeny tiny pieces ... 160 of them to be exact, that I had to mark on the back for sewing.

Good grief ... NEVER EVER will I pick a pattern like this again!!  This turned out to be WAY too much work!

Kinda cute I guess, but it took me an hour to do these two.  Gee ... I only have 18 to go!!!

I took several breaks to watch more of the PENDLETON RODEO.  Here's a good shot of the PVC corral that supposedly keep the bulls inside by the chutes.  We all know that doesn't work.  The two guys on horses?  After every rider gets bucked off or jumps off, they try to rope the bull immediately, just to be sure they don't get out before leaving through the back gate. 

It works ..... sometimes.  Many times those critters take off for greener pastures, running right through the plastic.  If you are outside sitting on the ground, DO NOT MOVE.  Any movement puts a spotlight on your chest that attracts bulls like a magnet.  So far in three days, even though many have gotten out, no one has been smashed into the ground.  It makes for some nice excitement however!!

At the end of the day, I was contemplating heading to the rig.  I got waylaid.  What the heck?  My chair holding up half of the tomato cages from the weight of all those tomatoes, had fallen over.  UH OH!!

Remember these from yesterday?

These were added to that pile.  The entire four cages with two huge plants were laying flat on the ground.  I've no idea what happened, but there they lay.  They were all so heavy, there was easy way of putting them back up.  I grabbed some twine, hefted up one side and began tying them to the fence.  I'm guessing the weight of all the tomatoes was just too much for those cheap Tractor Supply Chinese cages.  NEVER EVER will I buy those cheap ones again.

What a wreck!  I spent an hour trying to stand them back up, not breaking any branches and picking all the red ones I could to lessen the weight.  Today I'll be out with my hand trimmers, cutting off all those rose bush branches that nailed me in the process!!

That was it ... by the time I got done, I was in no mood to RV camp in the back yard.  

Today I have MORE accounting scheduled because Quarterly Tax Payments are due in two days, in case you forgot.  

It's weird ... though sometimes I seem to wander around looking for something to do, most days there's TOO MUCH to get done!!  And September is already half gone.  Only 103 days until Christmas!!!  I better get those Christmas decorations out of the garage before I toss them out!

Diesel and Cigars!

 There's something to be said for FALL.  It's good, and it's here.  Not that it's going to last long because the forecast says we are heading back up the scale soon, but on this day it was a lovely 60 degrees when Mr. Cooper and I wandered out the door.

This kid ... without all the RV walks we take when on the road, he has gained WAY too much weight.  I've cut his food intake in half, and just like me, he STILL puts on the pounds.  So here we are at 6:30 am, walking the roadside.  Maybe I'll lose half a pound after a week and be able to eat another dessert in the process.

Back home, this gardening thing has taken over.  Y'all should have warned me about how much WORK this is!  Every morning, I'm still watering the cherry tomatoes, getting maybe ten a day.  THESE however ... I have to crawl behind the huge plants next to the rose bushes, getting stuck with thorns every time, to harvest the Early Girls.  

I'm down on my knees, hair caught up in vines, knees soaking wet, trying to reach the red ones every morning now.  And oh yeah .... Kitters is biting my legs the entire time demanding breakfast.  I think there is another batch of sauce in my future.  This is MUCH more work than I bargained for.

I forgot to mention I stopped for fuel the other day.  While everyone is enjoying their $2.00 gas, if in fact that is true, we are SORT OF enjoying our $4.79/gallon diesel versus last month's price of $6.00.  Drill Baby Drill ... maybe we will even get down to $4.00, but I'm not holding my breath.

I knew the monthly Elks Trustee Meeting would be controversial, so I tried to keep a sane mind by working on this quilt a little more.  It's a weird one.  I'm hoping it will look a whole bunch better when all the parts and pieces are joined together.  Pumpkins ... they will be pumpkins, or so the directions say.

I guess I have to buy more bacon with that whole SLEW of tomatoes to eat.  Really, I can't complain because I love them and they are FREE!  Making them with a FREE loaf of French bread?  Priceless!  Okay, the lettuce and mayo did cost a few pennies.

Here's the Harvest Host update.  After sending three messages since there apparently is NO phone number to call, they responded that the discount was NOT added to the sale.  I wonder how many times that happens and people don't ask for a receipt.  

At any rate, in an email, the nice lady said they would add the discount coupon, giving me a credit.  A lot of good that does because the charge has already gone through my credit card.  Maybe they will send a credit through?  That remains to be seen because it hasn't showed up yet.  

In the meantime, I discovered most all of their sites are boondocking.  Mostly I have to be plugged in, so for the next few days, I'll be camping in the rig in the back yard to see just how long I can go without power.  I hear tell the TV and the Starlink take a bit of battery, not to mention the heater, AND the fridge is battery only.  Most do allow generators, so that helps.

In the meantime, I watched more PENDLETON RODEO as the cowboys ran from the bulls, then ran back to repair the PVC fence.  Sounds like fun, yes??

At long last I headed out to the meeting, arriving just in time to give this baby a scritch.  Meet Vader ... as in Darth.  Believe it or not, they say this is a pug/labrador mix.  I'm not sure how THAT could happen.  Anyway, he was found along with two siblings and his Mom, stuffed in a plastic bag and thrown out in an orchard.  

I personally think the same should be done to the previous owner.  Vader was just adopted by one of our Trustees, who has to take him everywhere due to his propensity to chew up everything in sight.  I don't blame him.

All went well until the end of the meeting when a very disgruntled gentleman stood up and demanded to know WHY they could not sell cigars at the Brisket and Bourbon event we had.  Ummm because we don't have a license to sell tobacco products, nor can you smoke in our building.  

He responded with ... we set up a table outside so we could enjoy our bourbon and a stogie.  Ummm you can't take alcohol OUTSIDE the building.  The voices got VERY loud as I snuck out the door and down the back stairs.  I'm not getting in the middle of THAT one!!  I'll let the MEN hash it out.

Today I've got accounting work to do ... and again tomorrow.  It's Estimated Tax time and books have to be updated.  

I have another project in mind also ... door cameras.  You see one of our Trustees is a detective, who specializes in all things surveillance.  He says BLINK is a ten.  You buy the cameras, they hook up to your WiFi and they don't charge you like Ring does.  I'm looking into it today!!

Cooper and I will be on the couch ..... in the rig ..... testing out the batteries.

NEVER FORGET

 It's hard to believe it's been 24 years since 9/11 happened on September 11, 2001.  Someone brought in a small television to our break room at the County Auditor's Office where we sat in silence watching the terrorism that we never expected to see in our country.  

I was there just a few days later.  The destruction was unbelievable.  I pray we never see anything like this again in our lives, and I still pray for the families of those lost.  

Sadly, things have not gotten much better, thanks to a political party determined to bring down the current administration, but at least for now our borders are secure.  I hope never to see another event like this the rest of my life, and I pray our children and grandchildren never experience anything like it.  NEVER FORGET.

And so as I safely gobbled down my homemade fried burrito, I tried not to think about the images I saw.  The burrito was okay, but note to self ... add much more spice next time.

The day began with a frantic phone call .... HELP ... I messed up your accounting program.  It's okay ... it's easily fixed.  Well ..... not so much once I got over there and discovered one entire month of entries had disappeared.  Two hours later I called UNCLE and came home.  I'll finish that up another day.

BECAUSE .... the PENDLETON RODEO is on!!!  This arena is HUGE, making for lots of exciting runs for the money.  Not to be outdone by the smaller steers, the bulls garnered most of the excitement.  Yes, that's a PVC fence over there, obviously not enough to stop a bull if he decided to go through it, which of course they did.  

I admit, it's fun to watch the cowboys who have been sitting on the grass watching, scatter like rats!!  On occasion, one or two get run over, but not on this day.  It took SIX cowboys in red shirts and FOUR ropes to get this bull sort of under control.  He was having none of it and they drug him completely around the arena and through the OUT gate.  

On the ranch, I was involved in that kind of stuff a time or two.  Let me just say those boogies are scary!  Bulls are not only big enough to turn your horse on its back, but they are MEAN MEAN MEAN.  They will hook you in a flash if you get too close, besides weighing in at over a ton.  It took four horses to drag this guy back to the holding pen.

That's why I would definitely rather be on a horse than on the BULL!  These kids are exceedingly brave.  On this day however, the bulls won.  Only two out of 15 riders, actually rode the bull.  No worries for the bull ... these guys are pampered and fed like Kings every day of their lives.

Speaking of which, I ate like a Queen at lunch.  I ran another package of bacon through the air fryer and picked a fresh tomato!!  YUM YUM!!

I worked on the last two Veteran quilts for a bit, but was obviously distracted by RODEO.  It took a few minutes to realize I had received a delivery at the back door.  Thank goodness for WOMEN.  Every single time, they actually read the directions and go to the back door.  The MEN just toss things on the front porch without reading anything.  That makes it fair game for thieves.

Lookie here .... my new carrying case for the Starlink Mini.  It's small, lightweight and everything fits perfectly.  By the way, did I mention this one works while you are going down the road?  Hopefully I'll get to check it out in a few days.  

That's when the frustration began.  I finally decided to sign up for Harvest Hosts.  I'm sure you all know what that is.  It's $179 a year, but when I logged on, it said they were having a 25% off sale.  Okay then ... I signed up, but alas (my fault) I typed in the wrong email address.  I DID type in the sale code however, whereupon it blipped and said CONGRATULATIONS on becoming a member.  

Okay, but wait ... where is my receipt?  I want to be sure I got the sale price.  I spent the next TWO HOURS going round and round with the AI guy who needs to go back to school.  There was no way to contact ANYONE to find out what they charged me.

Several hours later I finally got the email changed, and received an email from them saying "here's the link to your receipt".  GREAT.  NOT SO GREAT!!  They charged me the full $179.00.  Of course now I can't get ahold of anyone to change that.  What kind of crappy service is this??

If they do not contact me today, I'm canceling the dang thing and calling my credit card company to dispute the amount.  This is ridiculous to spend all this time on a business with apparently no service at all.

I was pretty hot under the collar, so when I heard Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer coming down the road, I ran outside.  This is a very elderly Indian gentleman who rides a bike, pulling a small trailer with a freezer on it.  

Let me just say he's outrageously expensive ... but you have to give him credit for doing this.  And so I did when all I could find was a $100.00 bill.  RATS!!  No problem he said ... he had change.  Not quite enough change, but enough that I said keep the rest.  I paid a whopping $20.00 for these three bars, but that's okay.  I applaud him for riding his bike around a 5 mile radius in the heat, every single day, trying to make some money.

I'll be back sewing binding on those Veteran quilts today, followed by a Lodge meeting this evening.  Yes, they are having a 9/11 ceremony ... but for once, I said NO.  Hopefully, there are a lot more NO'S in my future!!

P.S.  The ice cream was DELICIOUS!!  No, I didn't eat THREE, I only ate ONE!