Wash And Wax

Okay, that's not exactly true.  Wash would be more correct.  I was up early the last couple of mornings trying to wash Utah off the rig.  They have a white clay-like substance, that in spite of the torrential rain I drove through, sticks to the sides like glue.

I was outside by 5:00 am with bucket in hand trying to beat the heat ... and the sun.  There's no way you can wash this beast in the sun.  The sides heat up so fast steam comes off when I hit it with the water hose.

Yesterday was the last day I was out really early.  I even went so far as to drag my tall ladder out and wax some of the worst spots along the black top.  It's not perfect, but it will do.  This morning I'll be waxing the front again, just to help keep the bugs at bay.  Isn't she purdy??

I seem to have a problem with one leveler jack in the back.  It doesn't want to stay up under weight.  I'm not sure if that's due to not enough hydraulic fluid or a bad jack.  While in Tucson, I will take it in to LaMesa RV and have them take a look.  I've no doubt you will hear me scream in Canada when I get the bill for that one.  Sorry if I wake you up.

Sadly, my extended warranty expired.  This will be me if more repairs are required!  Hahaha not really.  Some of you may remember this image from a few years ago.  No, I wasn't really homeless, but I was on the streets LOOKING like I was for my Photography Instructor who couldn't find a model willing to look like crap.  Photo shoots are ALWAYS a kick in the pants!!

It all went south when someone reported a man harassing a homeless woman to the police, who showed up in record time.  It took some talking to get out of that little situation and convince him I wasn't really homeless!!  Kudos to the Police Department who promptly chased us off. 

I'm checking and rechecking my honey-do list.  Some days I can't seem to decide whether to go to town or not.  Go to town and spend money or stay home and watch a Giant's baseball game.  Neither one was a good choice yesterday.  Maybe packing up the rig will be a good alternative!!  Time is getting short!

I Missed The Summer Solstice!!

As a runner, I always liked the long days marking the beginning of summer.  I could run late into the evening when it was cooler, but still have lots of light.  Nowadays, I just wish it would get on with it so I could go to sleep earlier!!!

Apparently I missed it Friday night, what with the explosion and all.  I have to admit I've learned a new skill.  Sleeping in the middle of the day.  Cooper sees no problem with that at all!!!

The pump is still pumping and water is still flowing.  This morning was the big test ... the sprinklers came on and are still going.  It takes about 3-1/2 hours to finish up.  Seems pretty crazy to me.  In the old days of PG&E, it didn't matter.  Now it's a different story.  Today I'll go around and make a few more adjustments in the downward direction!!

It's not all fun and games around here ... it's spider time.  There's nothing dangerous except black widows, which don't come out until after dark.  These guys make me crazy!  They can jump three feet!!  As I opened the back door yesterday, one fell from the upper casing.  I did the best spider dance you've ever seen!!  Just what I needed ..... more adrenaline!!  

This is a Regal Jumping Spider.  They didn't get that name for nothing ... they really do jump.

They also spin crazy webs where they lay eggs.  Here's one by my front door.  Well here WAS one by my front door.  Isn't it interesting how the webs are attached by little dots.  Her legs and mouth parts were very visible until I got too close.  

For my last barbecue hurrah before packing it away, I picked up some pork chops.  You know, the really thick kind that always turn out tough and chewy.  I actually looked up "how to" this time, keeping them on low.  It said pork was done at 145 ... done enough anyway, to kill anything it might be harboring.  

Oops .... I left them a little too long.  It didn't matter though, they came out perfect!  I can't believe how tender and delicious they were.  The best part was I had enough for three meals with one cooking.  I think I'm going to like this barbecue thing after all!!

Right now I'm practicing summer.  There are yellow sticky notes resembling flowers, all over my house, along with my regular long list I print from the computer.  It's getting close to takeoff time.  

No Skydiving For Me!!

I can tell you for a fact, that I am NOT an adrenaline junkie.  I do crave a little adventure in life, but jumping out of an airplane just to have that hit of adrenaline will NOT happen.  I'm not a fan of adrenaline.

When I was maybe 10 years old, a man broke into the house my cousin and I were staying at.  I completely froze on the couch.  She ran to the front door and abandoned me.  Turns out it was the owner's son or I might have been dead.

Nope ... adrenaline is not for me.  It took the entire day for me to recover from that blast in the morning, helped along by the reading of a home invasion rape not far away the day before.  At least this time I didn't freeze up completely.

At any rate, here's what happened.  The hose bid on the well pipe exploded, releasing all the water and pressure, causing the big bang in the house.

I chose San Luis Pump company because they had an emergency number to call.   Gabe was very nice, although I doubt he's rich.  Handsome maybe, but he's grandson age.  I don't mind robbing the cradle, but this was a little beyond that.  

As he got out his tools and started taking everything apart, he explained it all to me ... how the well worked and in fact, what all that stuff was hanging on the side of my house.  I knew it had something to do with the well, but had no idea what.

He removed the coupling and took the pipes apart, then I hit the circuit breaker.  He wanted to be sure the pump was still attached and working.  Sure enough, water came out with no problem.  

All this time, I could still sense that awful feeling of adrenaline in my chest.  He had another hose bib, but not the right size coupler.  Honestly, I don't know why there is a faucet on the well pipes anyway.  I've never used it for anything.  We decided to leave it off and just plug the hole.

Here's the real culprit.  Rust almost completely blocking the pipe.  Apparently it rusted out enough that the water pressure split the coupling entirely.  Maybe it was hit by a lawnmower?  Who knows.

While he was at it, Gabe checked the pressure, the "bladder" tank and even the water depth.  That little black plug comes out.  He inserted a long metal rod attached to a wire until the bells rang.  Seventy five feet he said ... that's where my water table is.  Gosh, many years ago at the ranch, our water table was at three feet.

After Gabe left, I tried to get things back to normal, but it wasn't happening.  I'm sure it was all that adrenaline still hanging around.  I was exhausted, hungry and sleepy.  I couldn't concentrate on anything.  At noon I fell asleep for almost two hours.  What's up with that??  

I was pretty hesitant to hit the bed, thinking there might be a repeat, but I slept pretty well.  Finally this morning the adrenaline hit has subsided.  There will be no skydiving for me.  Climbing a rock wall or ziplining ... yes ... but nothing BIG.  My body can't take it!!

Here's my tip of the day.  If anything like this ever happens to you, hit the circuit breaker for the well.  If you have city water, you could just turn the valve off.  If it's in your motorhome, I have no clue!!!  At the very least, I now know more about my well than I ever wanted to.

BANG!!!!!!! In The Middle Of The Night

You're not going to believe this one folks!!  There's nothing like a little panic in the morning to wake you up.  I was sleeping restlessly for about an hour when all of a sudden there was such a huge BANG it shook the doors of the house.  I seriously thought it was a home invasion!

I grabbed my gun and the puppies before heading for my closet.  It was quiet.  That's funny, the dogs didn't even bark.  I sat in the dark waiting.

Hearing no other noise except something out front, I snuck out and crept through the house, my heart in my throat.  You cannot imagine the blood pumping in my ears.

Nothing.

There's that funny noise again.  I finally screwed up my courage and opened the front door to find a geyser of water on my front lawn.  OMG!!!  My well exploded!!!!

It took my brain a minute to kick in.  Actually, it took five minutes after being flooded with adrenaline.  I called the Pump Company.  Busy signal.  At 2:50 in the morning????

I called the second company who had an after hours number.  Poor guy ... obviously I woke him up.  I apologized, then explained my problem.  Turn off the circuit breaker for the well he said.  OH ... now THAT'S a good idea!!  I seriously had no clue!!

Send me a picture he said, so I did.  It appears the hose spigot is what exploded.  He said he could come fix it now or when they open.  When you open please, as the screaming headache began to raise it's ugly head.  

Here's the best part of all.  My neighbor says hello from the dark recesses of his garage.  I'm not surprised because I know he works graveyard shift.  I WAS a little surprised when he told me he was just out smoking marijuana.  Really?  Sadly, he looks like he's lost 50 pounds.  

Marijuana makes you talkative, in case you were wondering.  I've never tried it myself, but spent many a night listening to others when I worked in Yosemite National Park.  Way back in the 60's while employed by the Health Department, they burned some in an ashtray so we would know what it smelled like.  I got VERY sick just from the smell, so it's something I never wanted to even get close to.

He couldn't talk fast enough and went on to explain how our neighbor down the street chewed him out about bringing riff raff into our neighborhood with all his "buddies" who came to smoke with him.  I suspect there is more than just marijuana.  

By now my headache is screaming in my brain and I'm still so full of adrenaline, I'm shaking.  Hopefully this will all subside soon and things will get back to normal.  Yes, there's probably going to be a hefty bill in my near future, especially if that explosion damaged anything else.  It's a good thing it happened before I left.

I'll be on the couch trying to calm myself down.

R and R

After all the crazy stuff that's been going on around here, I decided to opt for some R and R. I admit, I'm not very good at that activity.  I forced myself to pick up a crochet hook and start on an old fashioned granny square quilt for the puppies.  You might think they are round now, but in the end, they will be squares.  At least it's easier on my wallet than shopping for quilt fabric.

Temperatures are on the rise, so every morning I open the back door and turn on the fans to circulate cool air through the house.  It's working like a charm.  In spite of 100 degree temperatures, I only use the air conditioner in the evening to cool down my bedroom.

PG&E is on the move again.  For some weird reason, my $350 a month summer bill has only been $150.  I've said all along that their smart meters were set wrong.  It appears they have fixed that problem, at least for me.  

On the other hand, they have now sent out notices to everyone that should there be a fire anywhere near your residence, they will shut off the power to everyone, including entire towns, until they deem it safe to turn it back on.  That could be a couple of hours or as long as 24 hours or even longer.  

Their answer to the outrage is "you'll just have to go buy generators to keep your fridge and freezer going.  So sorry charlie."  The little town of Manteca isn't anywhere near a fire district, but has received notice they will be shut down.  THE ENTIRE TOWN!!  In the meantime, everyone in California will be paying for all the destruction from the Paradise fire, which now appears to have been PG&E's fault. 

In the meantime while I still have electricity, I gave Cooper a quick haircut.  Every time he went outside, he came back in panting from the heat.  

That's about it.  I crocheted, watched baseball (the Giants lost yet another game, no surprise), adjusted the lawn sprinklers for the umpteenth time and ate TWO fat bombs.  I even sat on the patio and watched the sunset out of pure boredom.  This made me smile!!

When I look at these pictures, I imagine myself in a cabin out in the woods of Montana, without the snow and cold of course, nor the 100 mile drive to the grocery store.  Doesn't it look inviting?

So today I'm off to deliver some things to our little zoo.  I happy to say I discovered a group of those young dressed-to-the-nines kids that knock on doors (they are from the LDS church) spend several hours every week helping out at the zoo.  How cool is that?  

Next up ... washing Utah off the motorhome.

If It Can, It Will

You know how weird it can get with a full moon?  Imagine THREE full moons in a row.  I read that the Strawberry moon would be full for three days.  Wouldn't you know, day three would fall on Magic Kingdom night.

I started off right ... I got out of my truck without falling down.  That was AFTER I tried to move my garbage can.  It fell with my hand still attached, scraping all the skin off the back and wrenching my already arthritis-ridden knuckle.  It was a sign.

Prince Charming never showed up, which meant we all had to pay for our own libation.  At least pepsi is free for members.  It also meant we were going to be short handed.  Little did I know just HOW short, because 6 more people didn't show up.  This is a 17 person party.  We were in trouble from the beginning.

There are two sides to Bingo.  I work the "Bingo" side and a crew of six work the pull tab side.  They had two people, and neither was a money counter.  They asked me to do the end-of-night count.  No problemo I said, but I have no idea how to balance it out.  

Immediately thereafter, we discovered someone had dropped our cash box on the floor, making it impossible to open.  I hit the tool room for some help.  A screwdriver and pliers did the job, which impressed the Castle Lawyer.  I just bent everything back to where we could get it opened and closed.

In no time we were ready to start the game, except there was no caller.  A frantic phone call was made to a town 30 miles away.  You cannot imagine how rowdy this group can get.  Luckily we slipped right by that one.

With no one to watch the cash box in the Pull Tab room, I spent most of the night in between.  I asked the guy that opens to let me know when he was leaving.  NOW he said.  Okay, I ran in to count the cash, making a couple of corrections.  That's when things went south.  Just like Elvis, he left the building.

Wait .... aren't we supposed to stay open and pay out all the pull tabs turned in for cash?  Let me tell you just how important that $1.50 is.  A riot of angry peasants was in the making.  We had a frantic meeting in the closet.  You announce we will pay them at the break and I'll pay out dollar bills, because there was 300 of them.  That way I'll only have to count those the second time.

I was backed up for an hour and ended up having to count the entire cash box over again.  That's when I discovered all the $10 and over tags had disappeared.  They told me I HAD to save them.  Is it a full moon?????

About that time, the infernal machine decided to eat the receipt paper.  It's my specialty, with which I've had lots of experience.  I ran out to fix that, then went back to counting.  What else is going to happen?  I should have kept my mouth shut.

One more thing, just to put the cherry on top .... the very last entry in our infernal machine went in wrong, just a missed key, making the Bingo side balance off by $25.  It wasn't fixable since the resetting keys had been activated.  Oh well ..... blame it on the full moon!!  If it could go wrong last night, it did!!!  

I'm now left handed since my right hand is swollen and very sore.  I'm a left handed klutz and already had to change my shirt that was soaked with coffee.  I'm really hoping that was the end of it.  I'll be recovering on the couch!!

Feeling Like A Dummy

I don't think there is an emoji for that one.  Maybe the crazy eyed guy!!  It's bad enough when you make a really dumb mistake, but to make it in front of several people, makes it even worse.  In this case, they didn't laugh WITH me but AT me.  I can't say I blame them.

It was too early to be out and about at Walmart, but Cooper needed chicken and I needed yarn.  You've got to love that one stop shopping.  I got everything ... no dawdling here ... and raced to the self-checkout, only because the other three lines had eight people in each one.

I rarely get cash back at Walmart, but on this day I thought I might need a little extra since I would be exiting the area soon.  $100 was the magic number.  The wretched machine beeped at me while I was trying to get the too big chicken into the too small bag.  I grabbed the card and put it away.

In a flash, it beeped again and again as it spit out the receipt.  Okay ... Okay ... I grabbed the receipt and walked out.  Yup ... I'm a dummy.  I walked out WITHOUT the cash.  It struck me like a lightning bolt when I pulled into the garage.

Well .... I guess I just made someone's day!!  I felt better thinking about it in those terms.  Hopefully it's a Mom with eight kids.  I called anyway, just because I could.  It was the hand of God that said Nancy ... I'm going to give you a miracle today.  The salesgirl picked up the cash and turned it in.

I went back to Walmart feeling like a real dummy ... which I was.  It just never pays to be in a hurry.  Come to find out, she was a new employee, on the job only two days.  Maricruz heard the machine say "take your change" several times, before going over to check it out.  She instantly called her manager, who took the cash to the office.

Good ... now I'm embarrassed in front of not one or two but an entire OFFICE.  In my defense, the machine is not supposed to give you a receipt until you take the cash (said the manager).  They finally returned my cash ... all of it.  I promptly turned to Maricruz and handed her $40, but the Manager intervened.  Employees canNOT take any cash or reward.  Well that sucks!!

I discovered she's a young mother and could probably use the extra money.  Today I'm headed BACK to ask for her address so I can mail her a check.  Honesty and responsibility in the younger generation should be rewarded.  I STILL feel like a dummy however!!  The good news is I GUARANTEE that won't happen again!  Once burned, twice shy!

On Sunday night, I went out to find the infamous Strawberry Moon.  Is is just me or are there more crazy moons this year than normal.  There was the harvest moon, the blood moon, all kinds of moons I've never heard of before.  In an effort to find it, I pulled up my MOON app.  This is so cool.  It shows you every planet in real time.  I think that's saturn behind the gray moon.  The red line up top is the horizon.

Too bad for me the skies were covered with clouds and I didn't get one single picture.  I stole this one from the internet.  It was apparently huge and beautiful, but not visible from my location.

While wandering in the back yard with my camera however, I did find my hydrangea (Ha!!  I remembered what it was!) blooming gloriously.  My garage isn't really pink ... it's white.  That color is the result of the golden hour of light from the setting sun.  

It's Magic Kingdom night at the Castle, so I'm gearing up by napping on the couch this morning.  I'm going to need all the strength I can muster!!!

Bag Brawls ... Who Knew?

After a nice breakfast burrito filled with bacon (only one piece), egg and cheese (how can you beat that?), I immediately got to work on my "list".  It was cool ... almost cold in fact ... as I drug out the ladder to take care of the first problem.

Rarely do I look up.  From now on, I'll make it a habit.  Here's what I found in one of my ten patio lights.  Whoever built this house wanted LOTS of light.  Since I leave these on most of the time, I removed most of the bulbs.

Apparently that was an invitation to build a condo.  How in the world did they not get electrocuted??  Or worse yet, start a fire?  Thankfully they vacated the building.  It's time for demolition.

So just what do you use to reach into a "hot" light socket and not get electrocuted yourself?  My first thought was tongs, but instead, I went for a screwdriver with a plastic handle ... not that that really would have helped.

Come to find out, it was barely attached to the bottom of the ring and nowhere near the current.  I replaced it with a nice LED floodlight.  I may have to buy seven more to fill up the other currently condo-less sockets.

With that done, I headed out to the garage area to clean this light of more spider webs and dead bug carcasses than I've ever seen.  How do they get in there??  Talk about a fire hazard!!  I used a swiffer duster and was able to get it clean as a whistle, except for a few carcasses at the bottom.  

While I was out and about at 6:00, I grabbed my handy dandy bottle of insect killer and sprayed outside the house and inside the garage.  This stuff works pretty good.  I should probably spray the light fixtures!!

By 7:00 I was done.  Rather than overdo quilting, I plopped on the couch for some Sunday TV.  Unfortunately I'm on a Tucson satellite for the baseball games, so I didn't get to watch Sunday Morning's train story about UP 4014 and it's trip to Ogden Utah.  

Instead, I watched the Bouldering National Championships.  That's solving rock climbing problems on crazy walls with holds the size of your fingernail while upside down.  Talk about Spiderman, these kids are BETTER than Spiderman!  I wouldn't even be able to get up on the first hold!!  These "rocks" don't have places to grab on to, they only have flat sides.

This is me about eight years ago.  This wall had lots of hand holds in all different sizes.  You try to hit the holds with the same color tags.  Different tags mark different routes and difficulty.  I'm free climbing but am actually tethered to a rope in case I fall.  I really wasn't very confident in the 98 pound person on the other end.

Next up ... the bag brawl.  Who's heard of that?  How about Cornhole?  Maybe in the Midwest.  I never knew it was so popular.  These guys look like Indy 500 drivers!!  I had no idea there was a National Finals for Cornhole, a game I've never played before.  

Throw the bag into the hole.  It's called Cornhole because the bags used to be filled with corn.  Now they have suitcases of special varieties of bags, some with felt on one side to make them go slower and some with slick material to make them zing into the hole.  

Then there are air shots.  Most guys hit the board and let it slide into the hole.  The guy on the right threw almost exclusively air shots ... toss it way up in the air and have it go straight down into the hole.  I was amazed at his accuracy.  So was everyone else, and of course he and his partner won.

So the next time you're sitting around on a Sunday, check out the weird channels you never watch and see what crazy new things you can learn.  Bag brawls, cornhole and bouldering just might be on the schedule.

Happy Father's Day!!!!!

I want to wish all you Dads out there a great day, whether working on the house, playing with grandkids or watching a baseball game.  Without you, we wouldn't be here.  While you're at it, take the time to teach those grandkids everything you can.  Just imagine how much fun it will be when they takes those worms into the house and show them to Mom!!

There's a big Father's Day Breakfast at the Elks Lodge this morning, but you'll be happy to know I didn't volunteer.  I'm a little gun shy after the workout at the fair.

Instead, I decided to make fat bombs.  Yup, that's what they are called in Ketoland.  They didn't really sound like something I would like to eat.  I'm still having trouble with my brain while I'm eating a piece of bacon every morning.

Here's the recipe in case you want to try it.  It's pretty simple ... 8 ounces of softened cream cheese, not quite one cup of peanut butter (preferably the no sugar added kind) and 1/4 cup Swerve, along with a dash of vanilla.  Beat it up relentlessly with your mixer and place in the fridge.

An hour later (maybe two), using a small cookie scoop, place them on a pan covered in parchment paper.  Stick in toothpicks to make it easier for the next step and place them in the freezer.

Next up, melt semi sweet chocolate chips in a bowl in your microwave.  Why doesn't this look like chocolate?  Because all I could find was peanut butter chips.  When melted, stir in one tablespoon (maybe a tad bit more) of oil ... I used avocado oil because it's also what I had.  

Using the toothpick as a holder, dip and roll them in the melted "chocolate".  Back in the freezer they go.

Once done, take out the toothpicks and store in a zip lock bag in the freezer.  When you need something sweet and amazingly delicious resembling a huge piece of candy, take one out and enjoy.  I have to say these are so rich that one is almost too much.  Half of one completely removed my sweet tooth craving.

Here's the weird part.  I won't tell you what the calories are, but as you can imagine, it's pretty high in fat.  I've been eating this way for about 50 days and I've lost a little over 9 pounds.  How could that be??  Maybe it's all the vegetables and salads along with the meat.  Maybe it's not eating bread, potatoes, rice or sugar.  I do know that I'm never hungry any more and don't crave the sweets nearly as much as I used to.

It took some time to get over the loss of bread, but now I don't mind at all.  It's much easier to say no to bread than candy!!  I've even gotten to a place where the littlest bit of aftertaste from Swerve has disappeared.  If all you do is replace sugar with Swerve, I think you would be ahead of the game. 

The bad news is I haven't found a replacement for ice cream.  I did, but the thought of eating almost pure heavy cream is a little unsettling to me.  Besides, with fat bombs, who needs ice cream??

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!!!

Third Times A Charm

For the third day in a row, I wandered outside in the cool of the morning to watch the sunrise.  I was rewarded this time by a beautiful sight.  I'm surprised at the difference between 106 degrees and 91.  It's been absolutely COOL.  80 would be better, but I'm not complaining.  I'll wait until I get to Arizona for that!!

On one of those "I don't want to go outside" days, I decided to whip up that sugar free jello ... for the third time.  I'm still finding pieces of stuck-like-glue jello on the walls from the first time.  The second time, the new recipe said to add half a cup of Swerve, my very expensive sugar-free sugar.  

It was so sweet it was sickening, and barely edible, not to mention a solid block of concrete I had to cut with a knife.  I didn't let the jello set quite long enough before blending.

The third time was a charm ..... I let the jello sit a little longer, didn't beat it to death with my mixer and added only 1/4 cup swerve.  It's delicious!!!!!  Honestly, I can't believe I've gone this long without real sugar, not to mention BREAD.    

In between contemplating what concoction I would whip up for dinner, I attempted to load this huge recliner in my Jeep.  I discovered quite by accident that the back comes off.  After dragging it out to the garage, it sat for an hour while I tried to figure a way to lift this TOO heavy beast up three feet.

Necessity is the mother of invention.  I grabbed a box of old tax papers (a least they were good for something), got one end up on that and was finally able to flip it over and into the back.  Trouble was, it was upside down and would flatten the cushions considerably.  RATS!  I drug it out.

I'm not sure how it happened, but the second time, it ended up in exactly the same position, in spite of my attempts to make sure I did it differently.  I studied the situation intently - place it here, flip it this way.

The third time was a charm as I was actually able to hoist it up far enough to man-handle it inside, right side up.  What you see is the back piece, which I just stuffed next to the bottom.  I'm not sure how it's going to ride going down the road, what with it being a rocker recliner.  I'll have to stick something in there to keep it from rocking.  It's going to the Arizona house.

In the quest for an RV cover, my bid arrived adding $600 to the cost just in case they have to dig deeper to natural soil.  I checked out a second company and received a bid of $8,000 with NO installation.  It's a do-it-yourself version.  Maybe the third time will be a charm.

Parts and Pieces

At long last I received this missing piece from Tiffin.  It fits on the bottom of the left hand rear view mirror arm.  It seems the U S Post Office had a natural disaster or severe weather and could not deliver it on time.  It was out for delivery in my town according to the tracking number, when that natural disaster hit.  Funny, it never hit MY house!!

Now for the interesting part ... how the heck do I get it to stay on?  I slid it into place and it promptly fell off.  I guess some silicon will be required.  Anyone have any other ideas??

While lounging around the house, I decided I might as well look into the RV cover I want to have installed in Tucson.  After a 45 minutes conversation with the first company, who read me the riot act when it came to the fill dirt I had brought in to make a parking spot big enough, I almost gave up.  

When he told me he looked my property up on his computer and that my parking area was 12 feet onto the neighbor's property, I was ready to call Uncle and hang up.  There are stakes there ... metal, (not wood which he said would be unacceptable) to show the property lines.  

I told him I wanted 16' x 40' by 14' tall.  "That tree will be in the way ... it will have to go!"  It just went on and on until I said I thought I would just give it up.  His tune changed a little to something like "maybe my boss can make it work".  Yeah right!  According to him, he WAS the boss until he retired and sold the business to the NEW boss, who he continues to work for.

When he got around to the price of things, I almost had a heart attack.  The grand total came to $14,000.  I was looking in the $6,000 range, maybe $8,000.  I'm currently looking at other companies, although surprisingly, there's not much to choose from.

Luckily the weather went from 106 down to 91.  What a difference!!  So lets try cooking something for dinner.  How about pork cutlets?  Here's how my mind works.  I'd love them to have a nice crispy crust with panko and parmesan cheese.  I'm skipping all bread, so how about just parmesan?

Since I'm not knowledgeable in the frying department, I figured the cheese would stick if I dipped it in egg.  Yes??   That would be a no!!  It kind of stuck to one, but the other two ended up sans cheese, it all being stuck to the pan.  I should have put them on the bbq instead.

So today I'm heading to the grocery store.  Maybe a nice can of tuna will be in my wheelhouse.  After all, salads ARE really good in hot weather.

More Rest Required ...... FABRIC!!!

There's that squirrel again, always lurking in the background.  The good thing about working so many hours for that week is I didn't have time to hit one single quilt shop.  Actually, the ONE single quilt shop in my area.

Here's another picture of me hard at work with my lovely plastic make-your-hands-sweat gloves.  I have to say however, that by the end of the week, my hands were soft as could be!!  I did double and triple duty, as did everyone else, at the cash register, changing gloves dozens of times lest the Dungeon Master tell me for the hundredth time that I just contaminated my hands.

Funny, she never told THESE guys they required gloves!!  Food service and all that.  I finally told her loudly and in no uncertain terms I was really getting tired of hearing she had food service training.  It worked!!  I didn't hear her mention it again.

Okay, that's the last of the breakfast burrito pictures.  I'm happy to report I'm a very stable person and my stable is definitely intact and healthy.  

I made a quick trip to my local quilt store, only to find they didn't have hardly anything at all.  That's definitely a plus.  I only got what I needed to finish the present quilt, spending a measly $31.  Now if I can just remember what I was DOING with this quilt.  

Directions are not always very clear and sometimes take great concentration to figure out.  Once you do, it's always nice to finish it all at once and not take a weeks break.  I had to start all over again and figure out what the heck I was supposed to be doing.

In between sewing and resting, I spent a couple of hours steam cleaning the floors of all the puppy prints and leftover bits of food.  They seem to enjoy taking a big mouthful of that home cooked deliciousness and spitting it out on the floor before consuming it.  I put a mat down, but they just took a couple steps further to be sure it landed on the wood, not the mat.

Another 106 degree day was followed by a 66 degree night.  It should cool down to the mid 90's this week.  Interestingly enough, it's hotter here than in Tucson.  I hope that trend continues, as I'll be heading out before too long.