TWO DAYS, FOUR MILES

 Early mornings always look like the threat of fog is gone, but Mother Nature is only fooling us.  Even with cloud cover, the fog rolls in like a cold blanket.  As Elva pointed out, there was a bad accident just out of Bakersfield on my exact route back to Quartzsite.  I'm glad I decided to stay home.

I have to admit though ... being at home this long means I'm searching for things to keep me occupied.  There's absolutely nothing on television, so let's see what kind of trouble we can get into outside.  

First, I headed out for another walk.  No kidding ... my entire being feels better when I exercise.  This time the streets were empty, so I got in almost TWO miles.  That makes four miles in two days.  No worries, that won't continue, I'm sure.

First, my hot tub needed to be drained.  It's been sitting here gathering more and more water every day until it was half full.  I would have used the bucket brigade, but turns out there was only one bucket.  When I got it down far enough, I turned the tank over.  Love the reflection of the trees on the patio.

I let the kids out early to smell the grass since the gardener was coming this morning.  He's been slacking, I suppose because it's been so cold.  Nothing at all has been done in any of the flower beds.  Why do they think those are not part of the job?  It happens with all of them!!  I spent an hour pulling weeds.  I would spray, but it's been just windy enough I would probably kill half the lawn.  

Back inside, check out Kitters ears.  She is not the least bit happy with the gardener either.  He makes lots of scary noises.  I have to give her credit though ... she's smart enough to be out in the sun during the day, but always wants in at night.  She hasn't been in the Kitty House in ages, possibly because she has gained so much weight she barely fits!!

When the sun came out, I grabbed my grocery list, but only got as far as the door.  Ordering online and just driving up to retrieve it has become my go to.  I mean really, you don't have to dress up, fix your hair or even wear makeup, not to mention not having to check yourself out.  I'm not nearly as scary looking as the guys they have bringing your order out.

LOOKY HERE!!  Maxwell house is making coffee again.  Not my favorite flavor, but it's what I have been drinking for the last year.  I bought ten cans.  I also bought the supplies to make my OWN Orange Cafe with the recipe Frances gave me.  Even though it's half sugar, it's probably better for me anyway.  It's scary when you read the ingredients in THIS stuff!!  What can I say, I'm addicted to sugar!

On the other hand, this has MUCH less sugar than the Hills Brothers stuff, not to mention the cup was greasy when I went to wash it out.  Why oh why is it greasy???  What does Hills Brothers put in there?

I worked on the quilt for awhile, but my enthusiasm has waned.  I got the row torn apart and the three new blocks made.  Maybe I'll sew it together today and begin work on the borders.

That's when I remembered to check the battery thingy.  OH LOOK ... SUN!!  It felt SO GOOD!!!

One quick look and I knew I was in trouble.  RED LIGHT!!  Rats ... I am just having no luck with this battery problem.  In order to get the hot post connected, you have to turn and push on a plastic piece to make the post visible.  Once you hook up, you let go of the plastic piece, very slowly, and it puts pressure on the clip.  Apparently it doesn't like that.  I reset the hot wire and plugged it in again.  OK was lit up and it was charging once again.

Maybe I'll check the voltage and just turn it off.  Sure enough, it read 13.2, so I unplugged the unit.  I'll retest it in a few days and see how it's holding up.  I thought I might take out the spring as others have done and cut off a tiny piece so it doesn't put quite as much pressure on the clamp.  On the other hand, since I've no idea what I'm doing, I would probably mess that up considerably.  

What I DIDN'T mess up was dinner.  This was the last container of my homemade and homegrown tomato sauce with a lot of extra spices thrown in for flavor.  

Dinner ... on a way too small dessert plate ... was yummy.  Garlic cheese bread and spaghetti with parm.  YUM YUM!!  

By the way, you may remember that Cindy and Ray from Yuma, make everything freeze dried.  Cindy gave me a big mason jar of spaghetti that I'm going to try this weekend to celebrate my last vacation days before Bingo starts back up.  My replacement has called me every week for the last three weeks about when I will return.  I'm thinking I may not have a replacement any more.

The kids and I will be ON THE COUCH for a couple hours anyway, since I'll be back to accounting work later this morning.