Another Dinner, Another Steak

Aye chi MAMA!!  I thought we were into spring.  Someone please turn up the thermostat!!  We are back down to 43 degrees and C O L D!!  It looks like that's where we will stay for the next ten days.  

Though sometimes I think I could stay under the warm covers all day long, it was not to be.  SOMEONE came scratching at my shoulder.  GET UP MOM!!

He's SO demanding, Mr. Cooper is.  What can I say.  He's spoiled rotten and it's all my fault.  On the other hand, he's the best company ever!!

After no breakfast other than a cup-o-joe to wake me up, I stared at the puzzle for all of ten minutes before giving up.  I think you have to be in the mood to work on those things, and I had too much on my mind.  Mail my taxes ... the worst of the worst ... try not to think about CAKE ... and get in some exercise.  Doesn't getting up and down from the sewing machine count as exercise?

I did that a lot yesterday.  I have a request for the Coast Guard.  They don't MAKE those little panels in that flavor.  So I bought a flag.  I'm hoping that I don't get thrown in prison for cutting up a flag.  Three more borders and this one should be ready to quilt.  Possibly today, though my motivation is waning.

Yup .. it's RODEO time and I've been sneaking in to watch the bull riding.  Actually, I found myself glued to the couch for WAY too long.  They have invented a World Rodeo, bringing in contestants from rodeos in Brazil, Australia ... any country that has cowboys.  These guys ... they can RIDE ... and are winning the big bucks.  Can you imagine a 20 year old going back to Brazil with a million bucks?  That's what happened last year.  

Time went by like a 50 mph wind.  I almost forgot it was Lodge Night ... this time celebrating our Law Enforcement.  It was HUGE, as you can imagine.  We sold 205 New York steak dinners for $20 each and gave away something like 50 raffle prizes.  It was a madhouse of noisy hungry folks!!

Lucky me, this time I got one of the Deputies to take dinner tickets, otherwise I would just now be getting my cold food.  It was delicious ... and cooked to perfect rareness.  I brought most all of it home.  

The meeting afterwards was less than exciting.  I did get some ugly looks when I requested we hold off on an expense for 7 days.  But no, they brought it up, meaning I had to stand up and ask 15 questions.  Do you have a contract, is there a guarantee, how long will it take, what products are you using ... things like that.  Sometimes the Trustees job is kind of fun, when you hear the answer was no to all of the above.  Surely I can't be the only one who thinks about those things.

The meeting ended and I was out the door in a flash.  These late dinners are killing me, and my desert found fitness is fading fast.  Mr. Sleepy Boy agrees ... it's couch time Mom.

I'm determined to get out to walk this morning, in spite of the cold and in spite of the couch yelling my name!  It's also time to take the rig for a drive.  I wonder if it will drive itself to the quilt store?  

Storms and Stitches

 GOOOOOOD morning!!!!  Boy did I ever hate those words when I was a kid.  It meant getting up really early, eating cold cereal, bundling up so much you could hardly move, and taking the long walk to the barn to catch the horses.  I never understood why everything on a ranch had to be done at 4:30 in the morning.  

Moving cattle from field to field (they were all numbered and we had to remember which one was which), gathering cattle for different things like branding, vaccinations, fly spraying ... it all began in the cold dark of morning.  

There's nothing like riding your horse across the irrigated pastures and being completely covered with mosquitos.  Folks that complain about mosquitos now, don't even have a clue how bad they can really be.  We would spray the horses before we went out because they would be absolutely covered with them, as would WE.  I think I lost a pint of blood every time.  The most words I heard in my life were YOU WILL LIVE.   

Mosquitos ... you will live.  Fall off the back of the truck while moving ... you will live.  Have a horse fall and roll over you ... you will live.  Break your leg ... you will live.  Get smashed in the chest by that cow they said would NOT run over me ... you will live.  Almost cut your finger off cleaning fresh caught fish ... you will live.  I suppose I have to admit they were right, since I'm still here.

I rather think that's what they say back East when these big storms roll through causing flooding and tornados.  I'd rather have the mosquitos.  I watched this yesterday every 30 minutes or so as Patsy and Bill were right in the midst of it.  We had a little rain off and on, but nothing like this crazy storm.  

I spent most of the day on the couch.  I can say with absolute certainty that it was boring.  I can only attribute it to a late night at Bingo ... and this quilt.  It took about 90 minutes to actually quilt on the machine before beginning the task of binding.  

That binding part, though many do it by machine, is all done by hand in my house.  That means at least five hours sitting on the couch.  Truly, that's okay because it also means I get to snuggle with Mr. Cooper.

How could I not love this?  It also means lots of OUCHES when I stick myself with the needle.  It's even worse since I got a NEW needle ... one as sharp as sharp can be.  OORAH for the Marines ... this one is now finished.  

The only other interesting thing, though not all that exciting, is I've lost a few pounds.  How you ask?  Since I'm always complaining about diets?  Well one of the gals at the Elks Lodge, under doctor's order of course, is fasting one day and eating carefully the next.  Not a novel idea I guess.  

I never in a million years thought I could go all day without eating.  It made my day LONG and BORING.   I've always said I eat for something to do.  Especially when I'm not on the road and bored to tears.  That made it pretty tough not to head to the kitchen and cook something, just to wile away the hours.  

Of course I'm not counting my chickens before they hatch, but I've lost five pounds.  That's like losing a Costco chicken!!  The next day I eat very carefully, half of what I used to.  Mostly I'm doing this so I can fit in that penguin tuxedo a little more comfortably.  If I'm going to sit through a two hour meeting, I'd rather not be squeezed in the middle until I can't breathe!

And so the day ended with a little sunshine as I drug my big living room rug back inside the house.  Yup I washed it in my big machine, but it won't fit in the dryer.  The hot concrete seems to be the best place to dry it out.  Too bad I didn't see all those little spiders BEFORE I brought it in.

After about five minutes, I realized there were things moving on the rug.  There was a flurry of swatting and crazy dancing until I saw no more movement.  Note to self ... next time hang it on the patio chairs!

April Fools Day ... A Mystery

It's April Fools Day ... and boy did we get fooled!!  The really nice weather turned into cold, wind, rain and hail that covered the ground like snow.  We didn't see THAT coming!!  It's also time for the Magic Castle of Bingo!!

Truly I expected sunshine and roses.  I would have pictures, but most of that happened when I was at the lodge.  Bingo folks came in soaking wet holding their heads from the hail.  It's like the post office ... nothing keeps them from their appointed task of playing bingo.

But first ... let's look into April Fools Day.  Not much to see, since no one really knows where it came from or why.  They just know it's been around for a long time.  Some say it goes back to 1500 France when they decided to change the Julian Calendar (think Julius Caesar) from it's New Year date of April 1st to the Gregorian calendar day (think Pope Gregory) to January 1st.

The Caesarites didn't get the message because travel took so long in those days, so the Gregorians made fun of them for still celebrating in April, calling them April Fools.  Now you know!!  

I was no fool when my friends called up to say let's go to lunch at ... Dan knows this one ... In and Out.  Every time I have ever driven by there, no matter what time of day, there is a long line through the parking lot and out the driveway, left and down the street for a whole block.  

You would think it's because of the food ... and you would be right ... but mostly it's because this meal costs $7.14.  It's the cheapest ... best burger in town.  I admit though ... they are a little light on the sauce and the cheese.  I ate most of the fries, but they are not my favorite.  I wonder if they will change to beef tallow oil to fry them?  This was GOOD EATS!

After a quick return home to feed the kid of the house and give him some extra snuggles, I was off to Bingo.  Though I expected a huge crowd since it was "payday", only 115 folks materialized.  That was plenty enough to run up a total of over $4,000 on the debit card infernal machine.  I think that's a record, and meant I was going to run short of cash.  Everyone gets cash back which they spend on pull tabs.  I have to borrow from Pull Tabs to pay the jackpots.

Weirdly, I think half of the peasants on this day were strangers.  We have our regular crowd, along with a long list of players, but this day I didn't recognize hardly any of them.  We've never had turnover like this before.  

And then it happened ... April Fools on US.  None of the television/bingo screens would work.  I made a panic call to the Knight that knows, because the peasants were becoming restless.  He came down early and discovered the problem.  Someone had pulled a plug out and broken the "holder".  After some super glue, we were back in business and the peasants put away their knives.

A few minutes later one rather boisterous lady came in with her wig in hand.  Yes, it was a spectacle.  Apparently the wind and hail wreaked havoc and it came off.  YIKES!!  Yup ... I've seen every kind of wig you can image, from short short to curls two feet long.  It's a thing for these ladies young and old.  I don't know ... maybe I should get one too.  With a little help, she got it back on and went right to picking out her cards.

It went well for awhile, but I wasn't April fooled into thinking all was well.  The new caller couldn't hear well, so everyone was screaming out the numbers to make sure theirs was a winning card.  That brought out the pitchforks quickly.  He was taking too long to verify the winners.  Then ... horror of horrors, he called the letter O instead of G.  Mayhem erupted!!  Players stood up!  That's a bad sign when they stand up!!

If they didn't need those dobbers to play their cards with, I'm sure they would have thrown them at his head.  Peasants are PROS and will not only tell you when you make a mistake, they even know if a card is the real winner or not.  It's crazy I tell you!!  Lucky for him he's up on a stage, and so couldn't be reached.

There were only two April Fools jokes.  They picked out all their cards and couldn't find their money.  APRIL FOOLS!!  It happens quite often really, and usually results in me never seeing them again.  On the other hand, we have one sweet lady who comes every week, picks her cards and pulls out a wad of money.  OH LOOK she says ... my husband gave me money.  In truth, she has Alzheimers.  She used to play many years ago ... and that's what she remembers the most.  

Husband drops her off, she buys the same cards, and plays all night long.  When we're finished, she goes to the back door where he meets her and takes her home.  We keep an eye on her, she gets to have a great time playing (she remembers every card and every game) and he gets a night off.  

And so ended another night with screams of joy yelling BINGO!!!  What could be better!!

Great Minds Think Alike!

You know those mornings when you don't want to get out of bed but you are wide awake?  There is absolutely NO chance you might go back to sleep, so you toss and turn until the King of the House says I NEED TO GO OUT MOM!!  

So up I got, stumbling to the door, brain not engaged.  The SIREN was exceptionally loud on this day.  I'm sure the neighbors appreciate that early morning wake up call.

After no breakfast, since I had a mind to see just how long I could go without eating, I set up the next quilt on the longarm.  Rex if you are reading this, check your last blog post.  I left a message for you.  Hopefully I will have time to finish this one today since you KNOW what day it is once again.  It's BINGO time tonight!! 

I actually headed out at 8:00 to Wally World to return two pair of jeans.  One was too big and one was too small ... both the same size.  I figured I might as well get a few groceries while I was at it.  Bacon sounded quite tasty.  Of course you now get 14 ounces instead of 16, for a higher price.  On the other hand, eggs are down from $12 to $11 for 18.  I mean really, you would think if anyone ... Wally World would bring down the prices like Costco does.

Upon my return, I heard strange noises coming from the back yard.  I think I have mentioned in the past that the neighbor with the drinking, drug using friends, raises and sells goats for 4-H.  Great minds think alike.  I too had the crazy idea I could get a couple of their goats to roam the back yard and clean up the weeds.  

How apropos ... one of my fence boards was shoved over to one side and there stood a goat!!  Okay,  how much trouble could they get in?  I already have water to the corrals, and all they would have to do is throw a little hay over the fence.  How could they turn down free feed?  So I called to ask since the goat had already broken my fence.  These guys can be pretty destructive.  They said okay, but didn't offer to make any repairs.

The first thing this one did was run around the exterior fence trying to find a way back to his buddies.  Oh great ... this is going well.  He went right under the fence onto my lawn.  The food is THAT way kiddo!  After a few minutes, he calmed down.  I'll let you know how it goes.

While keeping an eye on the goat, hoping Cooper didn't see him, which would bring about a daily round of barking, I finished sewing the binding on this quilt.  I now have two good examples to take to the Vets Chairman at Bingo to make sure they are what they want.  From here on out, I only have 18 to make, possibly 22 if I can find someone to embroider names.  It shouldn't be too bad since I can easily make one in a day using the big panels.  Little do they know at this point that the money they gave me will only cover HALF the cost.  

As for not eating, it actually worked out quite well.  I was surprised I wasn't starving so much that I ate everything in the fridge.  I picked up two pieces of salmon at Wally World, on sale of course, mostly to feed the King of the House.  Turns out it's pretty tasty, so I ate one, giving Mr. Cooper little bites.  He loved it!  

It's not as tasty as my ex-father-in-laws freshly caught salmon from the ocean, but then I didn't have to clean it either.  Just cook and serve!!

Other than the goat, rain kept me inside most of the day.  I kept going out on the patio to make sure he had not escaped nor eaten my roses.  There was a tiny slice of moon in the sky, making it rather creepy.

Wasn't I shocked this morning to find NO goat in the back yard!!!  How could he possibly have escaped?  APRIL FOOLS!!  Probably because there wasn't any goat in the back yard.  

I actually thought of this and tried it ... but these goats would not eat a single blade of grass.  They only ate the grain the neighbor fed them.  I guess I would choose ice cream over salad every time too.

Time for my Bingo armor ......... hope you have a GREAT day!