Uh Oh ... A Full Moon Is Coming!

My first 4 a.m. look at the morning.  Sometimes it shocks me just how light it is outside when the moon is nigh.  That's it peaking through the trees.  It almost looked like the sun!  Tomorrow will be the day of "Be Careful" because it will be full.  Luckily I will be sitting on my couch doing NOTHING, so the effects should be minimal.

Yesterday started out quite nicely, sharing the couch with Mr. C. glued to my leg.  You know the drill ... I'm not allowed to move.

 

On this particular morning it was okie dokie with me.  He has a small growth on his cheek that he scratched before I could stop him.  That ended up in major nursing skills I have used on the horses in the past.  The problem was he continued to scratch.  So here's my solution, in case anyone else might have such a problem, but no CONE OF SHAME.  

I got out the longest collar I had and rolled quilt batting around it.  A few of your socks would probably work as well.  It's thick enough he can't move his neck around to get close to his foot.  Today we are all better and the "cone" is gone.

As you know, my rest days must include television.  I got a few laughs watching CNN go crazy, while at the same time watching FOX News doing the same.  The News Media seems so jaded one way or the other nowadays.  

In an effort to cleanse my mind, I changed the channels.  Lookie what I found!!!  Oh yes, all those sappy Hallmark Christmas movies are BACK!!  I'm pretty sure I've seen them all at least three times.  Could they please make some NEW ones ... maybe change up the plot just a bit?

Oh but this .... THIS was even worse!!  You're not going to believe it, but I watched the entire ELF movie from beginning to end.  If I was one of the characters, I just might be embarrassed to admit I was IN this movie.  Really, it's pretty bad when this is the best choice out of 200 channels!!

    

Even reorganizing my sewing room was more entertaining, so I spent the next two hours moving stuff around.  Very little got thrown out because as you know, fabric is expensive.  I was so proud of the headway I made ... all the patriotic fabric had a home.

Then I walked into the kitchen to find there was one more much BIGGER container of red, white and blue.  There is no way I can squeeze that in, so I'm now eyeing my living room as a SECOND sewing room.  I might be able to set up two file cabinets with a door on top.  Instant table!  I decided to think about it a little more.

Dinnertime rolled around rather quickly.  When scrounging for some aluminum foil, I discovered a big potato I hid in the drawer.  Keep them in a dark place and they won't sprout.  The problem is I forgot it was there.  

No worries ... a pound of hamburger with lots of spices, followed up with a bag of peas and carrots and you have instant (sort of) shepherds pie.  Mashed potatoes on top with some parmesan because I didn't have any other kid of cheese.

It was delicious if I do say so myself!!  And I've got lots of leftovers!!  We had a similar version of this cheap meal quite often at the ranch.  As I've mentioned before, we cut up all our own beef if something died unexpectedly, and it never had any hang time, meaning it was tough as nails.  Anything that wasn't steak or roast was ground up into hamburger. 

Honestly, there's nothing worse than grass fed beef for flavor.  We did anything and everything to mask the "green", so this recipe with lots of spices and loads of garlic was a keeper!!

That was it ... such an exciting day.  Unfortunately I'll be at a lodge meeting once again tonight.  Let's hope the moon's effect on the crew will be minimal.  After that, THREE days off!  Woohoo!!

In the meantime, we've got rain coming for four days straight.  The perfect setting to see if all of my gutters are working.  Won't THAT be fun!!

BINGO!! I SAID BINGO!!!

 Good Morning!!  Sunny California has disappeared into the cold skies of fog.  It's actually worse than it looks, since my phone took out some of the haze.  With my little eye, I couldn't see that house at all.  It stayed that way most of the morning.  No worries though, rain is expected for the next five days.  Winter has arrived!

I tried to nap away the tiredness, but alas, it was not to be.  I began looking through those boxes of fabric, but didn't get far before I was overwhelmed.  The biggest problem is I have NO space ANYWHERE to store this stuff!!  That means rearranging my tiny sewing room ... a daunting task for another day.

I was bolstered by lunch, a quick meeting of the Bingo minds at our usual Mexican restaurant, followed by a mad dash back home to set up Mr. Cooper for the evening.  I admit, the dash BACK to Bingo was much slower.

Here we are, our typical player, but without the cigarettes.  If they could, they would.  One of our pet peeves is the smells that come with Bingo.  I haven't mentioned this before, but it's problematic.  Let's face it, some don't take showers every day, or every week, or maybe even once a month.  I hit the keys on the infernal machine as fast as lightning to decrease the face time.  

MaryJane is the worst.  Some of these folks wreak of it ... and I'm allergic.  The sneezing begins almost immediately.  Follow that up with the next customer wearing a quart of Eau de Rose Petals, which many times I'm ALSO allergic to ..... and you get the picture.  I'm a sneezing machine.

The crowds have been epic, which is both good and bad.  Good for us because we make more money for Charity ... and bad because there are more fights over seating.  Here's why.  See this nice lady sitting in the bottom right corner?  Notice no one is sitting across from her?  Or beside her?  There should be four people sitting in the space she holds court over.

Oh yes, there were again fights over the chairs.  One guy became a member just so he could sit in a particular game winning chair.  The gal who usually sits there was in an uproar.  IT'S NOT FAIR.  The alternative is to become a member, whereupon you can enter the building at 9:00 in the morning if you wish, just to save your lucky Bingo seat.  

I suppose with 137 peasants, you can't expect them all to get along.  The King was called and all was well once again when he handed her an application.    At least it was good until the mini infernal machine decided to die a horrible death.  It could not find the phone line, even though it was plugged in on both ends.  No matter what I did, it would not spit out a batch closing total.  It's always something, right?

I called one of the Knights ... the one who can fix anything ... and he proceeded to take it completely apart.  Yikes!!!  Once back together, it still procrastinated and would not give me a total of the debit card sales.  Oh that's not good ... I have no way of knowing what the total should be!!

Too bad, so sad!!  There was no coercing it into working.  Hopefully our bookkeeper can check with the bank and come up with a total of some sort.   I'm not going to worry about it ..... I'm not going to worry about it.  Yeah, that went through my head all the way home!!

The absolute best part of bingo is this!!  Being met by this happy-to-see-me face when I get home, makes it all worth it!!

And so ended another magical night at Bingo, where folks spend all their money, broken piggy banks included, so kids in our community can benefit from everything we do.  And you know what?  Even though they lose that money, they are happy to know it's going for a good cause.  It's a win-win!!

I fully expect to spend the day on the couch snuggling with my kid.  We shall see if my expectations come true.

Honoring Our Vets

What a beautiful way to start out Veterans Day.  The second I noticed the pink glow inside my living room, I ran OUTSIDE for a picture.  It's beautiful ... and threatening ... because what comes next is RAIN! 

There were things on my list however.  Start the engine so the battery wouldn't quit on me.  Yes I have a solar battery tender, but it doesn't work when it's raining.  I also had to turn everything back on and turn on the gas to exercise the generator.  

Prior to that however, it was sunny, meaning the solar is keeping the batteries at 100%, in spite of being under the shed.  That's a big plus!!

And then the rain came.  Not just a little light sprinkle, but a downpour!!  It got so bad I couldn't see the house next door.  Actually that was a good thing.  We definitely need the rain.  On the other hand, I realized my front sprinklers didn't seem to be working.  A quick check and ..... I discovered something weird.  The top plug of the GFI works just fine,  The bottom plug does not work at all.  I was completely soaked by the time I figured that out, so it will have to wait.

Although I really wanted a day off, it was not to be.  I got a phone call to please come down to the Elks Lodge.  How could I not considering the occasion.  Sadly, our entries in the parade got completely soaked to the skin.  It didn't stop them though!!  

I think we served something like 400 Vets ... chicken, pasta, scalloped potatoes, salad, rolls and any number of dessert choices.  FREE ... it was all free for them and their families.  Then we honored one of our World War II Vets ... 97 years old he is and still going strong.  You could hear the roar two blocks away.

Dinner was served from 1:30 to 4:00 with never an empty seat.  At the end there was a moment of silence for ALL veterans everywhere.  I love that!  Elks Lodges are definitely patriotic!

Remember that fabric I picked up?  One of the other things our Lodge does is make personalized quilts for Veterans and current service members alike.  Though I thought I was just picking up fabric, it seems the gentleman and his wife who were making these want to retire.  

They don't make a lot of them and they are fairly easy to put together.  The problem is eyesight and not having anyone to embroider them.  I still have SOME eyesight, but no embroidery services.  

I think if I make maybe five or six a year, it will make everyone happy, including the recipients.  I'm hoping I can find someone to personalize them.  The only alternative is to buy an embroidery machine, for which I have NO room.  I took pictures of their pictures so I would have some patterns.

Each branch of the service has a different logo and different colors.  I have no clue what those might be since I wasn't in the service, but I'm sure I can find someone to help me out.  The good news is that ALL supplies for these will be paid for by the Lodge.

Here's the first one I just quilted for a gentleman who is celebrating his 60th birthday and retirement from the Air Force.  

I wasn't exactly thrilled with the backing, but I didn't have anything to replace it with.  

Here's something else we do for Veterans.  If you are homeless, you can now apply for housing with Veteran Services.  Once approved and a home found, our Lodge goes out and buys whatever might be needed to make the house livable.  Couches, chairs, beds, bedding, kitchen supplies ... anything and everything that's needed to set up house keeping.  Pretty cool!!

It's hard to believe we do so much stuff, which is why I'm always crazy busy, but it's all for a good cause ..... MANY good causes.  

And you KNOW what tonight is ..... it is once again BINGO TIME!!!

Honoring All Who Served

 It's a day of sadness and mourning, yet a day of happiness and celebration.  We are honoring all the Veterans who served this great country, keeping us free and safe.  It's a very big deal in this small community!!

First off there will be not one, but TWO ceremonies, along with a parade.  Pray for no rain!!

The Elks Lodge has been preparing for days.  This is a small farming community, so there will be lots of pickups decorated to the nines, tractors, big trucks pulling trailers and of course fire trucks!  

It will end up here at the Field of Honor.  If you've never been to one, you should check it out.  In one day, our Veterans group, the Honor Guard and the local city, along with dozens of volunteers, set up thousands of flags at our college.  It's an amazing sight to see.  Oh ... and of course we fed everyone.

Each flag has a tag with information about who the flag is honoring.  Most are for those Veterans that have passed, but many are for those still living.  It's one of the most moving things you will see here.  I do love that red, white and blue!!! 

Anyone can have a flag placed ... and I think they charge MAYBE $10 for each one.  Once you purchase a flag, it is placed every year in the exact same spot.  

Still not finished, they had many more to put up.  Once complete, they guard this huge field ... maybe 10 acres? ... all night and all day for I think a week.  Then they take them all down and pack them away, storing them for next year.  

What's most amazing to me is the number of local folks who have served and are still serving this great country.

On the way back home, I stopped in at another quilters house to pick up what I thought was just some panels to make Veterans quilts.  Little did I realize they were dropping the entire project in my lap.  Wait ... what?  Oh gosh ... that wasn't really what I had in mind, but what could I say?  It's for Veterans!!  More on that tomorrow.

Finally back home and trying to rest up from another long day on my feet, I whipped up some ham and Swiss sliders.  What an easy treat!!  Hawaiian heat-and-serve rolls (or any kind for that matter), stuffed with lots of ham and Swiss cheese before topping with butter, dijon mustard, worcester sauce, garlic and onion powder.  

Pour the sauce over and bake at 325 for 15-20 minutes.  YUM YUM!!  I could eat these things all day long.  Next time I'll add a little more cheese!!

I'm trying to rest up today, but we all know that won't happen.  I've got some quilts to quilt.  Who knew this areas Quilt Guild did so much for so many!  I'll explain all that tomorrow, before I gear up for another fabulous night of BINGO!!  Boy this week went by FAST!!

The View

 No, it's not what you think!  This is THE VIEW from my cashier's seat at the Elks Lodge.  There has been WAY too many events for my weak constitution this week.  I had to get a chair and sit down.  

Welcome to the Vendor Faire at the lodge.  It probably should have been set up outside, but it was 42 degrees the night before and no one wanted to be cold.  Luckily we warm up quick round here because by 9:00 when the vendors arrived, it was a lovely 62.  

Here's a better view from my much taller barstool.  The place was so packed with vendors you could barely walk around.  On the exact same day (someone needs to be the calendar czar) we had a kids Hoop Shoot (a basketball tournament) just down the street AND we cooked and fed 200 folks out at another event I will explain shortly.

One of our members asked for donations for a bakery table, the proceeds going to the lodge.  There were six plates of cookies, two pies, three dozen brownies and 60 cupcakes I had to stare at.  Oh the temptations!!

MY menu consisted of hamburgers, hot dogs, chips and soda.  Luckily I never, even ONCE, spilled a drink on the floor.  That brought in over $500, a surprising amount.  The table of goodies, another $200, minus four cupcakes. 

Everyone kept asking what the flavor was.  I had NO idea, so after the third question, I grabbed a knife and we quartered four of them.  Strawberry, pineapple (??), lemon and vanilla.  WOW!!!  The cherries are on pineapple upside-down cake.  YUM!!

There was only one problem.  Isn't there always??  One of our members came down with a receipt and wanted me to give her change.  I didn't have any ... only bills.  She bought something upstairs at the bar and wanted to put the money here.  This is a separate event and I could not include it.  She got quite testy, more than testy in fact, so I took the money.

Then I find out she went in the kitchen, ordered a huge plate of French fries which were NOT on our menu.  The kitchen crew, not knowing any better, cooked them up.  Had I known I would have put a stop to it.  She then proceeded to walk through the entire building, showing off her fries (along with the smell) to everyone.  NOOOOO .....

It wasn't ten seconds before guys started coming up wanting fries.  I'm sorry, but they are not on our short menu.  WELL SHE HAS THEM!!  The madness (and anger) ensued.  No more fries were cooked, and the kitchen crew warned NEVER to do that again!!  There's always one troublemaker!!

I knew I shouldn't take cash in the building, but I did.  It's a good thing I didn't bring that new credit card I just received in the mail!!  Here's my new gorgeous Christmas wreath for the house.  Did I ever tell you I tried making these?  So simple!!

Cut the terribly scratchy ribbon in pieces, roll them up and tie on a wire frame.  I think I got all of four inches done on ONE ring when I tossed the entire thing in the closet.  It's still there.  Good grief, it's more than worth the price to let them make it.

While all of that was going on, our crew cooked up hot dogs for the OTHER group putting up our Flags of Honor.  Every service member in our County is honored with a flag and a picture (if possible) attached, along with their name and a little history.  This is Ken, the Chairman of our Veterans committee.  He's one of the hardest working guys I know.  Hopefully I'll have more pictures of this later.

I came home broke and exhausted.  Mr. Cooper and I crashed on the couch.  Sadly, it looks like rain on Monday, which will put a damper on our Veterans parade.  Hopefully it will bring out twice as many Veterans for our free lunch Monday afternoon.  Oh yeah, we are expecting over 300 folks for dinner.  It's going to be another BIG work day.  

In the meantime, I'm off to pick up fabric and panels for Veteran quilts before I get caught up in any more volunteer jobs.  It is definitely going to be a day of rest for moi!!!

I Can't Help Myself

 It was a fabulous morning at 3 am as I tried to be extra quiet due to company in the other room.  As you can imagine with Mr. Cooper, that didn't last long.  Someone drove a little too close to the house on their way to work and he went ballistic.  So much for sleeping company.

Girlfriend Cyndae is visiting from Sacramento for a few days.  Just for kicks, we watched the news.  I'll be honest, I NEVER watch the news, but I just can't help myself now.

I know all of us have been hard working adults all our lives, working to pay the bills and support your families.  Did you ever ... even ONE day ... cry your heart out at school when the other political party won the election?  Yeah, me either.

 Well apparently we have a generation of humans I'm not familiar with.  Harvard University Professors shut down their classes so kids could go to SAFE ROOMS, to recover from the savageness of the election results.  Previously they were provided puppies to hug.  This time it was Leggos to distract them from the trauma.  What the heck???

 My only thought was I'm glad for Tech Schools!!!    

In other news, Cyndae and I ate way too much and watched too much CNN while government representatives ranted and raved over the election outcome.  Did anyone see the three governors saying they were going to protect all illegal immigrants from deportation?  Even the criminals?  Wow ... I have no words for THAT!  And there was a picture of California's Newsome holding a machine gun?  I think he has forgotten about a little thing called Federal Funding.

 Anyway, Cyndae laughed even more at me as I dug the B. A. L. L. out from under the furniture for Mr. Cooper to play.

This is why I don't have nice clothes.  It was hanging just a little too far off the chair.

While Cyndae looked into the renovations of her rental house, I worked on this quilt.  One of the Elks wives makes these lap quilts for Veterans.  Each one has a panel for that particular branch of service.  Sadly, they are not going to be making them any more, so when they asked me to take it over, I said sure.

This one is going to a gentleman back East who is just retiring.  The top came to me sewn together, I just had to quilt it.  You will probably be seeing a lot of these, as I'm picking up all the extra center panels she has.  

This morning I'm off early to the Elks Lodge for our Vendor Fair.  I got scammed into running the cash register for the snack bar ALL DAY.  Honestly, I'm not expecting much.  They set this event up way too fast and didn't advertise much at all.  I do not see it being the event of the year, but I could be wrong.

I tried to con Cyndae into going, but alas, she had other important things to do, like laundry or something.  Maybe if I'm lucky, I can sneak up to the attic for a quick nap.  Or maybe I should stop by the bank for some cash.  Decisions decisions!!!!

Star Trails and Dead Spiders

 Enough politics!!  I'm swearing off CNN FOREVER!!!  Whatever happened to the honest Walter Cronkites of the news media?  The name calling needs to stop.  I'm now a Natzi, a piece of garbage and responsible for sending every hispanic in the U.S. back to Mexico ... and you want me to vote for you?

There is light at the end of the tunnel however.  During several interviews, it has been admitted that they went way too far left.  Hopefully there will be a change in that in the future.  Also hopefully, new much FASTER, vetted entry into the U.S. will be set up so all those hard working folks can stay.  Let's just kick out the bad guys.

Back to my everyday boring life, except for Bingo.  Bingo is NOT BORING!!

Here's the results of the SECOND star trails photo.  It's cool, yet rather disappointing when you take over an hour to GET the photos, then another hour to PROCESS the photos and you end up with one, and ONLY one image.  It's actually 70 images stacked on top of each other to produce the trails.  

See the lines on the right side?  Those are airplanes.  You are supposed to take those out, but it just got WAY too complicated.  I also needed 90 images instead of 70.  Otherwise, for just being in my back yard, it's not too bad.

In an effort to get something MORE, I'll be heading out towards Nevada at the end of November with a few photographers.  Hopefully they can help me fine tune everything.  Or not, since none of them have the same camera I shoot.  

On another note, though I have sworn off decorating, I finally took down the Christmas Wreath from LAST year and put up some Thanksgiving color.  Yes, I'm a little behind in that department.  And oops, it's upside down.  I'll fix that!

On the other hand, I took down the red, white and blue spider's home, after hand to hand combat to dislodge him from his enormous web that encompassed me every time I opened the door.  It went in the trash.  

SO ... I'm EARLY with the Christmas door decorations. 

Lunch was leftovers ... the last of my favorite Sheepherder bread.

My plan was to hit up Costco, but a bad case of lazy came over me.  Not wanting to brave the always packed to the brim Walmart, I went online and placed a grocery order.  I have to admit, I get fresher produce from them than from anyone.

All went well when I pulled up.  The guy knocked on my window scaring me to death because I was still checking in on my phone.  Wow ... that's service!

At the bottom of the basket, there was this toolbox.  Ummmm I didn't order that.  The kid with a half inch thick nose ring, three bottom lip rings, ear lobes down to his shoulders and something hanging off his left eyebrow, not to mention the bangs down to his chin, didn't know what to do.  

His only suggestion was to go inside and return it.  Hey ... I don't WANT to go inside ... that's why I made this on-line order.  And so it came home with me.  Any ideas what to do with it?  I have FOUR toolboxes (including a good sized one in the back of the van), and this one for $6.97 is WAY too small for actual TOOLS.  If I throw away the divider tray inside, maybe I can use it for Cooper's meds and toys in the rig?  Anyone have any other ideas?  It's truly not worth the time and fuel to return it.  

Company arrived shortly after.  I wasn't very good company because I had a Lodge meeting.  Twice a month our dinners honor a different group of people.  On this night, it was our Veterans.  Three huge TV's displayed pictures of our members when they were 18-25 years old.  Most of them cannot be recognized, but we all have fun trying.

I donated two quilts to the obligatory raffle we also have twice a month.  This time they decided to have a silent auction.  Wasn't I shocked when my quilts (one a duck special with hunting images on it) went for $500 and the other for $400!  In all, on this night, we made $3,100 to go towards our Veterans for whatever they need.  We're pretty proud of that ... and Monday we will feed any Veteran and his guest for free.  We expect about 400 folks.

Dinner on this night was another New York Steak, grilled to rare perfection.  Cooper will be a happy camper come lunch time, but I swear I'm going to bribe someone into cooking me half a chicken next time.  

I get a day of rest today before working the infernal machine at the Elks Vendor Fair early tomorrow morning, followed by Veterans Day Cooking.  It's beginning to get a little crazy around here!!!

The Elephant

 Okay folks ... there's a BIG ELEPHANT in the room.  TRUMP TRUMPTED HIS BIG WIN.  I know there are some that are not as happy as I am.  It's okay ... I respect everyone's right to vote for whomever they want ... and I still want to remain friends.

As an accountant, I would much rather have a businessman in charge of the country than a politician.  Yes he's brash and rude, but didn't you like it when prices of everything were cheaper?  I watched for two hours as the news media dissected every state, city by city.  

It wasn't about Kamala's lack of negotiation skills, nor her lack of interview skills, nor her sense of humor.   It was not the elite, or the college students, or the big cities that voted for Trump.  It was the grass roots folks who work hard to make this country what it is.  It was an electoral vote win and a popular vote win like none in our history.  You have to admit the people have loudly stated their discontent with the current government.

It WAS all about the economy and the border, and how bad it has gotten over the last four years.  States and cities that have never voted Republican, voted that way this year.  You can't expect voters to approve your terrible economic policies going forward when they haven't worked for four years.

I even watched The View for the first time EVER.  I've seen snippets of crazy women screaming and crying, saying horrible things about folks.  Today, probably for the first time, the one gal spoke up and said YES TRUMP WON.  I will accept that and do my best to work with them.  There was instant retaliation from a couple of the others because of her response.  That's a big part of the problem.

I'm positive there will NOT be massive deportations of hard working people (as CNN has said) who just want to become citizens and live a good life.  I'm positive there WILL be massive deportations of criminals, drug dealers, murderers and gangs back to Central America.  I'm all for that.

So far the stock market has stood up and applauded.  My bank account and I appreciate that.  I look forward to more good news in the days to come.  I'm sure Trump will be following in the footsteps of his predecessor with some Executive Orders that hopefully will result in manufacturing on American soil once again.  I'm tired of buying junk from China.

So PLEASE remain my friend regardless of who won the election.  Politics don't stack up to good friends, even a little bit.  Hopefully the days of pointing fingers, name calling and only saying bad things about the OTHER candidate are over.  After all, we ALL live in the same country.

DON'T WORRY, BE HAPPY ... that's my mantra for the day.  We might even see the end of some wars on the planet.  Oh ... and congratulations Nevada and Pennsylvania!  We've missed you

The ELEPHANT has now left the building, but there's no doubt, he'll be back.

The Magic Castle of Bingo!

 The wonderful magical world of Bingo is upon us again.  Me ... it's upon ME!  First off, I was NOT able to slip in a nap.  That makes for a VERY long day when you are up at 4 am and finally get to hit the sack at 11:00 at night.  At least our temperatures were cool enough to keep the hotheads from going crazy.  ALMOST .......

Let's get to it.  The morning light brought a tad bit of sunrise, along with a few clouds.  It certainly doesn't hold a candle to Arizona however.  

And so I was off and running to the land of enchantment.  Something was in the air.  It was 2:00 when I arrived and the parking lot was full.  That never happens.

I went to sign checks, but they were not done.  That never happens either.  Ummmm this doesn't bode well for Bingo!!  

I no more sat down to count the coins, when there was a flood of MEMBER peasants who came rushing in.  THAT LADY IS NOT A MEMBER.  Those are fighting words.  Here's the deal.  If you paid your $225 dues for the year, you can come in the door any time you want.  If not, you are only allowed in at 4:30.  It's hard to control.

In a flash, tempers rose and pitchforks came out.  I thought they were going to draw and quarter her.  She was unceremoniously escorted OUT the door.  Good grief folks ... be nice!  Maybe NO ONE should be allowed in before 4:30.

Ten minutes later it happened again.  I called the King.  This time a MEMBER brought in a GUEST.  So here's the question of the day.  Do you let them BOTH come in?  If we did that, every single member would be bribed to bring their FRIEND in early.  The ruckus went above and beyond as I sunk down in my chair.  I know when to disappear quickly.

That's when the chair rearrangement began.  I can only shake my head.  There are four chairs per 8' table.  They move the chairs to OTHER tables ... one ... so they can get not only their favorite spot at the table but two ... their favorite chair.  They must have their names stamped on the bottom.  The OTHER chairs get moved far far away so no one can sit next to them.  I know, it's head shaking!!

All this drama before the games even began.  Add to that the excitement of the election and it was wild.

CRAZY wild in fact because we had many new peasants that moved into the Kingdom who have no idea how to play.   In total there were 149 looking for big payouts of moolah.  I think that's a record.  It also meant sitting closer than normal, not being allowed your four square feet of space for good luck charms, and getting railed for calling BINGO when they didn't HAVE bingo.  

This went on all night long. Pitchforks, shovels, flaming torches, arrows of disdain ... if looks could kill it would have been a bloody mess!!

But wait ... my Fairy Godmother made a terrible mistake.  She forgot to plug in the mini infernal machines internet line.  It refused to work.  Yeah, it took me a few minutes to figure it out.  Finally plugged in, it declined peasants right and left.  You can just imagine how happy that made them.  I tried them once, twice and even three times.  DECLINED.  One lady said "oh I forgot I changed the pin number".  Nope ... there's no money in your treasure chest Ma'am!

After three tries I take their papers away and give them the bad news.  No cash, no sale.  Thirty minutes later they come back with cash.  Did they rob a bank?  I don't care ... I just sell the cards.

At long last, while yawning every three minutes, I finally closed the infernal machine, balanced to a "T" and headed out the door.  Oh to breathe in the cool air of peacefulness OUTSIDE the building.

That was it ... another rousing night of BINGO.  Notice I didn't mention the election.  I don't want to jinx it.

Until tomorrow ....... 

Star Trails ... Star Dots

It's really quite lovely at 3:45 in the morning when the kid needs to go outside.  It's quiet, only because the trains go by at 3:30 every morning.  Ask me how I know that!  This time change thing is really a pain in the patoo .. because while I USED to get out of Bingo at 10:00, it will now be 11:00 MY time.  Ugh!!!

I try not to dwell on that, but rather will schedule a nap for this morning.  Maybe that will help.

Just for fun, I checked on the rig batteries.  Leaving the panels off on the sunrise side of the building is just enough for the solar panels to keep it charged to 100%. I like that.  I only have to worry about the starting battery, for which I got a charger, I just haven't hooked it up yet.  

On the way back in, look what I see!  Yeah, it's a bird bath, but I've been putting seed in it for well over a year trying to coax the birds out.  This is the first time I've seen anyone eating at it.  There were five little sparrows (or whatever they are) each taking their turn at the trough.  Tiny little guys.

Back inside, it wasn't the most fun of days, but I got back to sewing a bit on this quilt.  It's more of a lap quilt.  Three more squares and two borders and it will be done.  On to better and prettier things, though I do like the bear paws.

Since I haven't been out hardly at ALL with my camera over the last year, I decided to try something new.  Learning anything on this beast is not easy.  The Menu consists of about 500 options, and 500 more if you want to add your own.  

Let's try some night photography ... STAR TRAILS.   It's complicated ... intervals, shots, timers, F-stops, shutter speed, ISO, White Balance and a myriad of other things.  I'm sure there is an instruction book around here somewhere, but it would take me hours to find it.  

I set it up the night before, not really having a clue .... and got this.  Looks good, yes?  I stood out in the cold for an hour to get this!!  I have to admit though, there are a LOT more stars up there than you can see with the naked eye.  I'm amazed.  Or maybe I shouldn't be because the wind was blowing up a storm, causing the tripod to move right and left. This is bad ... very bad ... not at all what I was trying to do.

This is what it SHOULD look like.  I grabbed this from the internet.  This actually requires you be on the top of a very cold mountain somewhere, not in my back yard three miles from town where light abounds.  It's supposed to be DARK.  You can see the town lights at the bottom of the above picture.

After spending an hour on the phone talking to someone who actually knows how to do this (but on a different brand of camera), I set up again last night .... on AUTO so I didn't have to stand out in the cold.  One hour of shooting later, it finally stopped.

I haven't processed those pictures yet.  It took 70 images (should have been 90 but I got really sleepy) before shutting down.  It takes quite a while to download all those images and STACK them one on top of another.  I'll try to do that today and see what shows up.  That process is just as frustrating if you don't know what you are doing on a brand new Photoshop program.  It makes my brain work overtime.

Mr. Sleepy Eyed Cooper was ready for bed WAY before the camera was done.  This was me two minutes later.

Ready for another rousing night of BINGO??  Me either, but it's going to be here in a few short hours.  Time to start gearing up in my suit of armor!!