Blogger Headache!!

 Well that was fun.  I just spent 50 minutes trying to log into my Blogger account.  It kept saying I did not HAVE a blog and I should START one.  Twelve verifications later, it somehow pulled up an ancient email account that said I didn't have an account at all.  If nothing else, I am persistent.  At long last, we are back in business.  I mean really, what would I do if I didn't have a blog to write every morning??

This was my SECOND shock of the day.  GIBBS!!  What are you doing on my back patio?  I took a triple take as I finally realized ..... wait for it ...... it's the towel I use to lay out.  Sure looks like a critter to me.

Kitters laying close by got a real kick out of that one!!  This is her new SPOT.  She used to hang out quite often with the goat next door, but has given him up for better pastures.  Mostly because this is where the food comes from.

First things first ... it's been WAY too long since I drove the beast.  I was out the door by 8:00 ... a miracle in my daily routine.  Yup this is farming country.  Our biggest crops are almonds and pistachios, the cause of all the dust and dirt that settles daily over our coffee tables.  

Then there's the dairies ... we have some huge ones ... the beef cattle production, not as big as it used to be, and of course chickens.  If you're going to feed all those critters, especially the dairy cattle who eat continuously, you need lots of land to grow hay and grain.  That equals even MORE dust made by the trucks that lay down fertilizer.

This is the scenery around my little place in the world.  Unfortunately, high tech big companies have taken over the little farmers that flourished when I was a kid.  The tractors nowadays cost as much as our whole ranch did when we bought it.

The days of local farmers are gone, as are the roads.  This is one of the GOOD ones!  I mean really,  it's about 16 feet wide and may have a few potholes, but it still has asphalt in between the holes!!

There are no BIG fire trucks out here either.  This is tiny town country with little trucks.  Even what we call the BIG CITIES around here only have small trucks.  The people have the same small town mentality though ... drive by and they will wave at you like crazy.  Mostly because they don't see too many people every day.

That was it ... I was back home in under an hour.  Time to give the generator a workout with the air conditioner.   Amazingly, it started up in three seconds.  And QUIT 15 seconds later.  Ummm I forgot to turn the gas on.  I'm used to the big rig generator that ran off the fuel tank.  

Gas ON, Generator ON and AC ON!  It all works perfectly when you remember how the heck to do it.  I even turned the inverter on to make sure all THAT was still working.  As you can see, my batteries are 100%. I love that solar on the roof.  Even when under cover, it keeps the batteries in tip top shape.

One last thing to check.  Someone noted their gas lines were deteriorating.  Not the same model, but I thought to check them anyway.  At least as far as I could crawl underneath.  There's not a lot of room to spare.  They looked good to me, so my checklist is complete.

I was done by 9:30 am.  Well that's not good.  It will only end up in a raid on the fridge, consuming everything sweet I can get my hands on.  Getting frustrated by my longarm is probably a better idea.

I loaded up the quilt Kitters had stretched out by sleeping on it.  It actually went back to its original shape.  I've procrastinated, not wanting to have those problems I've been experiencing in the past.  To my great surprise once again ..... IT WORKED PERFECTLY!

This sounds weird, but I think I figured it out.  I'm guessing I was winding the bobbins so tight that the thread would not pull off easily.  I've rewound several a tad bit looser, and it seems to have solved the problem.  I'm still scared though ... when you've heard those crunching sounds once, you hear them every time you LOOK at the machine!

DONE!  Not even a small glitch in this one.  Maybe I should just stick to the smaller quilts for awhile!

Dinner was ... well ... an experience.  I'll have to tell you about it tomorrow, because I'm already WAY past the kids feeding time trying to get Blogger to work.  I'm getting dirty looks as I type.

Here's my TIP OF THE DAY!

LIFE IS SHORT ..... SMILE WHILE YOU STILL HAVE TEETH!!