Stealing .... 101

Sometimes you get yourself in trouble when you aren't even trying.  It's a mistake officer ... I didn't mean to!!

So I was at the grocery store buying these crazy expensive cheap pieces of meat when I almost got myself in a pickle.  By the way, this is CHOICE meat, not prime ... and the reason they call it POT roast is because you have to cook it in a pot for 8 hours for it to become sort-of tender.  

There was no room in the little cart since that's where my big purse was lounging, so I stuck it in the rack underneath.  I guess Safeway has finally cut back, because there was only one lane open with a lineup of carts full to the brim.  Okay then ... I'll just check myself out because I'm in a big hurry.

I loaded up my two bags and quickly rolled out the door.  With the bags in the back seat, I looked down to see the meat.  YIKES!!  I quickly looked behind me because I expected a tap on the back and some cold handcuffs.  

Surprise ... there was no one there.  My first thought .... oh look ... I just got $40.00 worth of meat for FREE.  My second thought was ... yeah right, you'll go to Hell if you don't go back and pay for it.  So back I went and explained to the nice girl that I forgot to ring it up.  She looked at me sideways.  I know, I know ... but I'm an honest customer and my conscience wouldn't let me drive off.

Honestly, I think they will be losing LOTS of money from people doing the same thing on purpose.

Trying to be more efficient, I left my purse in the truck and just took my debit card.  She rang it up and I ran the card through.  Nothing.  I tried it again ...  she said it did not go through.  How could that be ... I just used it??

On the fourth try she said it was denied, so I had to run all the way BACK to the truck and get another credit card.  This meat instantly became more trouble than it was worth!!  TWO HOURS LATER, I finally get a fraud alert on my phone.  Someone was trying to use my card in Safeway TWICE in a row.  

Now really, how often have I done that at a fabric store ... purchased more than once, and never EVER did they put a hold on the card.  Frustrating, to say the least.  It took fifteen minutes on the phone TWICE, to go through a myriad of recorded messages and verify it was me, even though I already made the purchase on the OTHER card.

By the time I got home, I wasn't all that enthusiastic to be smoking the expensive pain in the butt.  But here goes .......  I decided to only take the chance on ruining ONE, so I cut it in half the long way, making two big pieces of pot roast, each only about an inch thick.  That went in the smoker for two hours.

It came out at about 160 degrees and I wrapped it in foil, putting it back in for another two hours.  Rather labor intensive, this pot roast.  Next you unwrap it, chop it up and toss it with barbecue sauce, a tad bit of very expensive honey and a little more seasoning.  Back in the smoker it went.

After another hour I checked the tenderness to find it okay, but a little dry around the edges.  That's burnt ends.  No one ever said they were juicy.  Usually made with the top flap from a brisket, you need a big glass of something to drink and maybe Cole slaw to moisten it up a bit.

All in all, it was pretty tasty, but a LOT of work and not something I would do often.  If you weren't aware, brisket has a different taste than other pieces of beef.  This is NOT brisket.   Ribs are much easier in the long run, and I haven't almost gone to jail from buying them.

Then came the REAL disaster.  There I was, quilting away on the quilt I don't like one bit, and suddenly there were loud noises from the bobbin.  OH MY GOSH!!!  I stopped it as fast as I could.  I turned it all off, then 30 minutes later gave it another shot.

It stitched out beautifully ... seven rows of an eight row quilt.  That's when it happened.  The needle didn't want to go down, making yet more horrible noises.  I stopped the quilting and called the manufacturer.  

Seems I have a "bind", whatever that is.  We did some testing to discover it's dead in the water and must go in for repairs.  The wait line is 3 months long for repairs here.  Remember my neighbor recommending a nice gentleman who might be able to fix it?  I cancelled that appointment because it was going so good.  

Thankfully, when I sent him a message, he said he would come by Tuesday and see what he could do.  Until then, I'm out of luck.  I thought going back and paying for that meat would bring a little sunshine into my life!  NOT!!

At least I have my buddy, my pal, my shadow to keep me company and console my quilt-broken heart.

What to do ... what to do.  Maybe I should head back to Safeway and see if I can walk out with a big slab of baby back ribs!!  Hone my skills so to speak.  Yeah, that will never happen.  I don't have the slightest bit of conscience when it comes to some things (that I won't mention), but stealing is not my game.  Here's hoping today is a better day.

Desert Critters and Water

 Yes ..... yes I did crawl up on top of that big rock pile.  I'm one of those people that always has to look on the other side of the mountain.  Of course you can do that by just hiking around the other side since it isn't far, but the view will never be the same.  Well actually, it WAS the same this time, but it's nice to know I can still do it.  The lady standing at the bottom had her doubts, as she explained to me when I came down.

That's how I spotted this guy ... a lone baby saguaro hanging on to the cliff for dear life.  With no place for a tap root, it may not last long on this cliff.

Most of the hiking trails at Javelina Rocks head off to the right around the rock mountain.  That's the direction the ten or so people who arrived at the same time as I, were headed.  So I chose to hike to the left.  I knew there was a dry creek bed in the bottom of the little canyon.

Wasn't I surprised to find it not dry at all.  This is the first time I've EVER seen water here.  It was flowing so slowly it would completely disappear in the sand, then emerge at the next little drop off to form a tiny waterfall before disappearing again.  

Water brings out desert critters, although most of them only appear at night.  If you are quiet, you can hear all the birds rustling in the bushes.  It took a bit to finally get a picture of this guy.  I don't know how they can hang on to those sharp cactus spines.

Can you see this little bird in the cactus?

So many varieties here ... and I gave away my identification book.  Maybe a cactus wren, a finch, who knows ... but he was intent on seeing what was for lunch.

The last little bit of color was along this tiny creek bed.  It's not fully in bloom, but it's trying.  It will be gorgeous when all those tiny brown buds explode in purple.

There is one thing I always laugh about when it comes to saguaros.  Many of them look like they are flipping you off.  Maybe they are .... TAKE THAT ... we can survive the desert AND the local population of humans.

I think there are two crested saguaros in the park, this one being the biggest.  This is the only two way section of the road, which was completely blocked by a group on bicycles who wouldn't move over as they took their pictures.  With traffic behind me, I had to keep going.  

So on the way BACK, I stopped to find them still there, still blocking the road so I couldn't get a good picture.  This will have to suffice, complete with green boca (the dots in the picture) because I was facing the sun directly.

Even the experts don't know why they suddenly grow this way.  Some say it's a lightning strike or a hard freeze.  They are fascinating, to say the least.

And NOW ... the best part of yesterday ... kinda sorta.

Elva Shannon sent a video of a guy making burnt ends out of pot roast.  In case you didn't know, burnt ends come from the top flap of a brisket.  Once smoked, they take it off, season it up again and stick it back in the smoker until it looks like it's been burned.  Doesn't sound too appetizing, but they are really delicious.

Pot roast?  No WAY!!!  But I'm all about the challenge of trying something new, especially when it comes to smoking meat.  So I went to Safeway to find a cheap piece of pot roast since brisket costs a fortune.  Well nowadays, pot roast costs a fortune too. 

 I rarely EVER check myself out, but the completely full baskets in line would have been an epic wait.  I ran everything through, grabbed my receipt and headed to the truck.  When I got there and unloaded everything from the top, I spotted the meat on the bottom rack of the basket.  Uh oh!!!!

This turned into a long story which could involve the Fraud Police ..... so I'll relate the rest of it tomorrow, along with pictures of the outcome.  Seriously, this could only happen to me!!

Old As The War of 1812

 Good Morning Arizona!!!  Shocking weather we are having here.  I almost had to put shorts on yesterday!!  By 8:00 I was roasting and opted for a short sleeve shirt!!  Sadly I can't say the same for my   OTHER town that is expecting rain for the next four days straight, which will melt a good portion of that snow in the Sierras and flood everyone again.  I think my place is out of the way, but I'm saying my prayers just in case.  

There was a little dancing taking place in my Tucson back yard, a rare sight to see.  This is a young roadrunner, only about 12 inches long tip to tail.  It's funny how they run flat, then they raise they head and tail for a look see ... then back down to sneak along the ground.

One bad thing ... they are meat eaters.  Babies in nests are never safe.

Determined to get out and about in between quilts, I headed out to the Saguaro National Park.  Old as the War of 1812?  Not me, though sometimes I feel like it, but the saguaros.  

Sadly, they don't allow pets, so Cooper had to stay home.  I can't believe how crowded it was, not that I require a parking space.  I just drive right on through with my Senior National Park Pass.  Luckily I picked that up when they were free many moons ago.

It's a one way 8 mile trip around the park, with lots of ups and downs, followed by sharp turns.  Every so often there are places to pull over and park to view the expanse of saguaro cacti.  I however, was after the flowers.  With all the rain and snow, followed by a few good days of sun, I expected to see quite a few.

I was wrong of course.  I had to really look for them, except for these.  Our elevation here is around 4,000 feet give or take, and it's not been warm enough yet.

I stopped at my usual spots and walked out into the desert.  There are no trails in this section, so be careful where you step.  If scorpions are out, the snakes might be too.

The clouds put on quite a show for me.  As Patty mentioned a few days ago, it's interesting how the trees and saguaros seems to be growing together a lot.  I'm guessing it's because the wind blew the seeds around until they hit the saguaro and fell to the ground.  

These are just babies ... a little over 70 years old.  It takes that long for them to get approximately 6 feet tall and begin to flower and form arms.  All the growth is at the tip of the cactus.  

So as you drive through this park, imagine just how long those saguaros have been hanging out here.  After 100 years of standing out in the desert, they will have several arms.  

Some of these are over 200 years old.  Pretty amazing to think about them just being tiny when the War of 1812 was fought.  There may have been a few Indians around this area, but certainly nothing else.  A 40' tall saguaro will weight in at about 4500 pounds when it's well watered by the rain.

They are also protected here.  Don't dig one up and haul it to your house without a specific permit, or you will go to jail.

Heading up higher on the East side you will see a spring coming down the mountain on this zig zag course.  You can barely see the water, but it's rushing along so fast you can actually hear it from across the wash.  

Another little fact ... saguaros have one tap root that goes down only about 2 feet.  The rest stay less then 6 inches below the soil and grow out as far as the cactus is tall.  The holes that birds nest in become surrounded by woody material.  Those were cut out and used by the Indians as water containers before canteens were invented.  

It creek ends up here in the bottom where I had to drive across it.  In fact, there were two creeks that had water crossing the road.  I've never seen anything but dry creek beds here.

Obviously the saguaros are well protected by their spines.  Needle sharp and hard like steel, these things are not fun to bump into.

There was a little more exploring, but I won't inundate you with pictures today.  That will happen tomorrow! 

TODAY I'm trying out a new recipe for burnt ends (the best part of barbecue) ala Elva.  I don't have any idea how it will turn out ..... it's an EXPERIMENT!!!  Tune in tomorrow for the results.

Put On Your Sunglasses!

Thank you Mother Nature for the beautiful, warm and sunny weather we have had for two days in a row.  It was actually overcast in the morning, but in the afternoon my house got up to 72 degrees all on its own.  I almost had to turn the air conditioning on!! 

It's been rather quiet in the back forty.  Every morning I check the critter cam to find this guy romping around the water station.  It just amazes me that I rarely see him during the day.  These guys seem to drink a LOT of water.

Where are the coyotes you ask?  They are romping with each other near their dens.  In another two months, there will be babies taking up much of their time.

Since it was such a beautiful day, Patty and I headed off to the quilt store in Green Valley.  The quilt I dislike needs backing so it can be quilted before I leave.  I can't believe we found it at Joanns for a measly $35.  This is a BIG quilt!!  An excellent find since this is a donation quilt.  You watch ... once quilted, I'll not want to give it away!

Put on your sunglasses!!  That's when I found THIS!  I have a pattern for a weird thing called a stack and whack.  You never know what it will look like until you sew it together ... and it's a one fabric wonder.  This should be fun!!

When Patty was here previously, she and a friend tried out a new restaurant.  It was so good, she said we had to stop for lunch.  She has NEVER known me to say no.  They were packed, but luckily we got a table.  I've never EVER had food delivered that fast in a completely full restaurant.

Of course I left my phone on the couch at home, so Patty took this picture of her turkey bacon melt (least I think that's what it was) and my tuna salad on a croissant.  Oohhhh fancy!!!  Yes, I tried to be good by ordering the "salad" ... then I ate half of Patty's sweet potato fries!!

On the way out, we drooled over the pastry case, ending up with two pieces of cake to take home.  If you are ever in the area, be sure and stop in here.  Parking is sparse, but it's worth the walk.

Back home after putting the fabric away, I got up enough nerve to start up my machine again.  This time it didn't start exactly where it should have.  That old saying about never make a quilt perfect because only God can do that?  He has no worries when it comes to me.  

When I got to the end, there wasn't enough space left, so I had to adjust the pattern.  It SO goes against my grain that the numbers never come out perfectly ... you know, that accountant thing.  BUT the machine finished up the last four rows with nary a hiccup!  

So my dilemma .... do I call off the repair man?  I think I'll call him today and let HIM make the decision.

After 3-1/2 hours of quilting, I skipped dinner and watched another section of the Houston Rodeo before heading out to look for the moon.  The first two times I was a little early.  Distracted by a video on my phone, I almost missed it altogether.  Okay, I missed it altogether.

This morning though ... it was shining brightly above my house.  It's interesting to note that I think every single time I've photographed the moon, it always looks almost exactly like this.  The dark spots are always in the same place.  It looks like the man in the moon got punched in the kazoo.

Since I was actually able to find diesel for $3.89 a gallon (with discount), I think I'll go for a drive today.  I do love to explore, but when it ends up costing $50-100 just for the fuel, it takes the fun out of it.  The desert should be breaking out in blooms any time now.  My backyard is, but sadly, it's all weeds that are blooming!!

We are looking at sun all week, then back to rain.  Best to play when the sun is shining bright!

I Love Having NICE Neighbors

Woohoo!!  Mother Nature has put on her best sundress from Mexico!  Just look at those colors!  You notice it immediately when you look outside and everything is pink.  THIS is a sunrise ... a beautiful display of morning light that makes me smile every time!

Don't get me wrong ... it was cold as all get out as I stood outside waiting for it to peak.  Five minutes later it was gone.  Too bad they are so fleeting.

After feeding the demanding kid, he insisted we play the ball game.  HIS idea of fun is to push the ball under something with his nose, then bark until "I" go get it.  I tell you, that's why I'm still so limber at my ancient age.

Then it was back to working on this quilt.  Just by luck, I was able to get it started back at the right spot.  It worked just fine for two rows.  YAY!!  I'm back in business.  

Not so fast whippersnapper!!  Crunch crunch, grind grind ... an error message popped up ... USB unplugged.  I had to hit the OFF button, and I was back to square one.

That brought about a much needed trip to my neighbor's house ... the Queen of Quilting ... Shirley.  She makes the most amazing quilts you've ever seen.  Apparently she has had a couple of the same error messages, so she showed me what she did on her machine to fix it.  

The next best part ... I got to meet Koda!  What a beauty he is!!  He was happy chewing his bone until he got a big case of "race horse", where he ran around the living room nonstop!  You can't see it, but he has a very long tail ... which knocked over my drink.  We will ALL remember to watch the tail from now on!!

Shirley also called her quilting machine repair man and asked if he would take on one more customer since he is really retired.  Yahoo ... he said yes!  I'll try one more time to see if I can get it going, but if not, he will be here this Friday to check things out.  I'm thankful every day for my wonderful friends.

Back home, I decided to whip of one of those recipes you see on Facebook all the time.  This was a mistake with a capital M.  My tip of the day ... DO NOT make this.

It's just cheese and pepperoni ... a nice Keto snack.  After 30 minutes in the oven, the cheese didn't crisp up as promised, but became tough as leather.  Although the pepperoni was crispy, it was swimming in half an inch of grease.  Not wanting to be wasteful, I drained them on paper towels (there were only six in my pan) and ate two.  

Okay, I'm wasteful.  I threw out the remaining four.  This recipe went in my TRASH bin!

Someone mentioned they had not ever seen any Mexican locomotives before.  Here's one of several that cruise by during the month.  This is Ferromex ... a private group consortium that operates the largest railroad in Mexico with about 7500 miles of track.  This one is headed back that direction.

While taking a picture of the train, I noticed my poor garden wind spinner had taken a hit.  My biggest 3' tall pottery piece fell over on it in the last big wind.  I tried to bend it back, but it was a no-go.  It just became garden art along the wall.

That was it ... a great day visiting with neighbors while I tried to get that quilt finished.  Just because I'm so persistent, I'll try again today.  I gave a big hug to my kid and we were off to bed.

This morning I'm heading out to Green Valley for some cheap backing fabric for the quilt I hate ... to become a donation quilt if I can get my machine going again.  I'm also making a roadrunner (more on that later) and a fabulous new quilt ... maybe TWO.  A trip to a "quilter's house" ALWAYS results in new patterns.  Sssshhhhh don't tell my wallet.

IT WAS COLOSSAL!!

 It doesn't get any better than this picture.  It was a colossal morning and afternoon in Arizona, even if that train did park there for two hours, right in front of my nice view.  It was a balmy 70 degrees ... perfect for patio time.  

Too bad it won't last.  The forecast calls for mostly clouds all day, bringing in a little more rain tomorrow, but the temps are staying up in the 70's.  YAHOO!!!

I finished this lap quilt in the morning, sewing on the outside border.  This is another of the older quilts from my stash, that came from Alaska many years ago.  There were a few hitches ... the pattern instructions were not correct when it came to cutting ... which meant they were short on one of the colors.  I had to hoochy-goo around that, but was able to make it work, and I don't think anyone can see it.  

I made several trips outside just to sit in my chair and watch the critters.  These are the guys that wake you from your afternoon nap with their banging on your fireplace chimney.  It sounds like a machine gun!  Apparently they like the hummingbird food because they are always sipping the nectar.

This guy is here every morning at 5:30 singing for a mate I guess.  He's after the seed I put out for the quail.  It's just amazing how beautiful these birds are.

Back inside, I put this quilt on my frame.  I've been waiting for two years to quilt it because I wanted to do a great job ... having a little more experience under my belt.  It started out fabulously!  I LOVE THIS PATTERN!!

Then there was a colossal error!!  These machines are temperamental.  There are long cords from the back that follow the machine along.  I think one got hung up just a tad and I got a buffer error.  When I restarted the machine, there was a bone chilling grind so I stopped it in its tracks.

Just like any computer, turn it all off (deleting everything), turn it back on and reset.  Too bad the machine couldn't remember where it was.  COLOSSAL frustration ensued.

I finally just turned it off and walked away.  Unusual for me.  The Tech gurus don't work on weekends, so it's been sitting ever since.  I'll take another look see this morning before calling in the cavalry.

Time for lunch at Montgomerys Grill and Saloon.  It's rather weird that it looks like a huge building, but there are very few tables at which to sit.  Luckily we got the last one.  This was a planned foray into food coma territory.

Colossal Nachos is the name of this monster.  Patty and Dan got the full version, served on a platter big enough for your Christmas turkey.  I got the HALF .. served on a large dinner plate.  Good grief Charlie Brown ... that's a LOT of food to eat!!  We munched away for about an hour before I asked for a to-go box.  

Back at the Chance Ranch, we settled in to binge on 1923.  Most have probably watched Yellowstone.  I admit, I have not.  The language turned me off immediately.  If you remember though, we DID watch 1883 ... about the Dutton family coming west in a covered wagon.  

They did skip a few years, so it was hard to figure out who was who in the 1923 series.  That had us guessing the entire afternoon ... is that the kid?  No, I think THAT'S the kid.  Nope ... oh well.  

Add to that the telling of three different stories at once, in three completely different locations, and it becomes difficult to tell what the heck is going on.  Still ... it's a cowboy movie, so you know I'm all over it.  So far this one is about the war over grazing land between the cattle owners and sheep herders, not to mention big game hunting in Africa.  Yeah, it's confusing.

There's going to be a colossal amount of series binge watching going on, since they are up to 8 episodes and we only watched 3.  We'll wait for a rainy day to proceed.  In the meantime, I'm now looking for a contractor to repair the garage roof facing.  Yup ... it never ends!!