OH THE SMELL!

 Another cool breezy day as Mother Nature slowly guides us into 100 degree days.  I'm thinking summer is going to last all the way into October this year.

Miss Kitters is loving every minute of it.  I have never seen her this relaxed before while sleeping.  She almost always has one eye open looking for critters.  She has also donned her "summer wear", meaning about eight pounds of cat hair is gone so her tan shows up quite nicely.   Weirdest cat I've ever known.

I bet you thought I had missed the Belmont Stakes race since there were no pictures.  Truly, I'm not a fan of horse racing, but there are three races I try not to miss.  The Triple Crown of horse racing includes the Preakness Stakes (which I did miss by the way), the Kentucky Derby and finally, the Belmont Stakes.  I WOULD have missed this one had not Elva sent me a message that it was starting early due to rain.

AND THEY ARE OFF!!  Golden Tempo, who won the Kentucky Derby, started out in last place.

That's him in the back row on the right.  It's a 1-1/2 mile race in the rain on this day.  Their game plan is the same ... let him just cruise along at the back until the last half a mile.

That's when they let him run.  In all my years, I've never seen a horse stretch out that far and run twice as fast as the rest of the horses.  It's an amazing thing to watch ... like he just turned on the jet fuel.  He was close to one horse for quite a ways, which he wasn't thrilled about.  Watch a horses ears and they will tell you everything!!  That's him in front in just a matter of seconds.

And Golden Tempo sets a track record for the WIN!!  That's two out of three races for this 3 year old beauty.  That's it ... that's his career.  He will pretty much be "out to pasture" now, used for breeding more great racers just like him.  It was fun to watch!!

Back to yesterday, it was time to bake the bread.  Sadly, I have absolutely NO idea what the temperature of my oven really is.  I set it at 550 because I think it's 50 degrees off.  The little inside-the-oven thermometer I have said 350 when the oven said 550.  It's a complete toss up!!  

I plopped the dough into the hot cast iron pot, sliced the top and stuffed her in the oven.  Twenty minutes later, you remove the lid and let it finish up another 20 minutes.  You are supposed to test it with a temperature gauge (like testing a turkey) before you take it out.  

Not quite enough, but OH THE SMELL!!!  No kidding ... roasting garlic came wafting out like perfume.  I left it in for a few more minutes before putting it on a rack to cool.  That's the hard part ... letting it just sit there and smell delicious!  It must cool before slicing.  I used that time to order another in-the-oven thermometer.

So here we are at the slicer.  I couldn't wait to taste the end slice.  Hmmm not much garlic flavor there, but I'm sure the rest will be wonderful.   AND IT WAS!!  Lunch was a nice big slice smothered in butter.  OH YEAH ... THIS IS GOOD!!  It's interesting that the sourdough flavor gets better every time too.  I'm thinking grilled cheese for lunch!!

With the best part of the day over in a flash, I drug out yet another quilt and stitched on the binding.  There is one problem with doing that by machine instead of by hand.  You have to have thread to match the fabric.  I of course, do not.  I had one little spool of brown for the last one, and used it all up.  OH DARN ... this morning I will be off to the quilt store for thread, since I use mostly a pale gray to sew everything together.  That won't look good on dark brown fabric.

What about my longarm?  I stewed about it all day long.  Who can I get to come and lift it out of my truck?  I even went down the entire list in my phone.  That's when I noticed a post from my neighbor.  Hmmm maybe they are back from New York.  YES!!!  And the two big strong boys are in the house!!

I parked the truck by the front door and gave quick instructions about the lifting so as not to tear off the encoder.  They lifted this thing up and over the sides and directly on to the rails.  JUST LIKE THAT!!

WOOHOO ... we are back in business.  Well, that is when I receive the "lost" cord in the mail, whenever that will be.  These things are notorious for being stinky when it comes to plugging everything back in and not getting motor errors.  I'm extremely nervous, but I guess I will see how it goes mid week.

As for now, I will not buy more fabric ... I will not buy more fabric .... but maybe I'll just take a quick look!!