Checking Out The Crew

It is once again a LOVELY 61 degrees outside this morning.  What a blessing!!  It quickly makes up for the 90 degree day which chases me inside as my skin curls from the burning rays.  Yeah, pretty dramatic!  It's not THAT hot, but once the humidity arrives with the slightly overcast skies, I run and hide.

Thankfully, I got back some of that energy that was stolen from me the day before.  Not only did I feel human again but I felt like I might make a trip down the highway to look at a few more camper vans.  It's better reading about that than "I watched TV all day"!

It gives me the opportunity to shake my head and my finger at guys like this.  I know the towing speed limit of 55 in California sucks, but it is what it is.  Guys like this on the other hand think they can go 75 mph with their trailer swaying in the wind behind them.  They hit pothole after pothole and wonder why they have frame cracks and broken bolts.   

I turned off to get fuel.  I have mentioned before, this is the cheapest diesel around, sold by the nicest folks.  I was pretty surprised to find it at $4.49 a gallon since everywhere else it's $5.50.  I was also surprised that my credit card allowed it to fill up completely.  At every other station, I get cut off at $100.00, which of course will NEVER fill my truck.

I finally arrived at my destination.  Happy Daze ... no relation to Lazy Days.  This place is only about a year old and sells mostly Grand Design rigs.  It also sells the Pleasureway Camper Vans.  I drove into the completely empty parking lot wondering if they were even open.  

Boy was I surprised!  I was met by SIX young men just standing there waiting for me!!  WOW I said ... I get my PICK??  They laughed ... and in fact, we carried on for quite awhile.  What a bunch of fun guys!  I finally asked who was UP ... the next in line to take the next customer ... and walked off with Jason, though I had my eye on Jim.

I stated in no uncertain terms I was NOT there to buy ... but to look and compare.  We went through the Plateau first.  Yup, exactly like the one my friend bought.  The kid was pretty knowledgable and said he had three small puppies, so we got along just fine.

Then we looked at an all wheel drive model on a Ford chassis.  That was a no-go since it's almost 2 feet shorter with a fridge the size of my computer, so I guess there will be no off-roading in my future.

Let's look at a BIGGER model.  The next size up is bigger, but with a freezer the size of my purse.  That's not going to work for someone who has a persnickety dog that requires a stack of frozen food in the freezer.  The bathroom was a REAL one, with a separate shower, but that made every other space smaller. In fact, you had to sit in the drivers seat (turned around) to watch the TV screen that was two feet away.   That would be a no.

And so I spent half the day teasing a room full of guys and laughing like crazy.  What could be more fun?  When I left I thanked all of them, told the tallest one I'd talk to him AGAIN, which got a big laugh from everyone, before exiting the building.  Us old ladies can get away with that!!

Back home, I set the Butler James to work on the floor.  James needs a seeing eye cane.  He got completely lost, had to remap everything and kept yelling for help.  He got stuck under the hutch, wrapped up the corner of a rug which brought him to a screeching halt and couldn't find his out out from under the couch. Three hours later and after two attempts, he finally finished the job ... but forgot to dump the bin.  I'm pretty sure he's my age and he definitely needs glasses!

As for the sprinkler saga ... it continues on today ... and probably tomorrow, and most likely next week.

Hotties and Hippies

Howdy from beautiful sunny California.  Of course it's only beautiful in the mornings when it's 61 degrees like on this day.  I open my back door wide and turn on the AC fan farthest away.  It sucks that nice cool air inside and keeps me sane.  

Though yesterday, I was beginning to wonder.  I couldn't seem to do anything but sleep.  I kept doing the once over, looking for symptoms of SOMETHING, but nothing was detected.  It finally dawned on me it was from getting overheated at the meeting.  Ever since getting a mild case of heat stroke at a baseball game, I'm not able to withstand heat much at all.  I'll pay more attention to that from now on!!

Here's a picture I forgot to post yesterday.  This is the brand spanking new hottie barbecue at the lodge.  She's a beauty!!  No longer will they have to cook that beautiful beef on a grill that looks like the Grand Canyon, so warped and with big holes in it.  This one is also quite a bit bigger ... the faster to cook those 250 ribeye steaks!!

I admit though ... it does need a little seasoning.  The meat doesn't taste QUITE the same ... but that will change as the barbecue is used more and more.

SO exhausted and not knowing why, I headed on off to the Chiropractor.  I had been trying to let my back heal up before going again.  All I've read about discs is they never heal, but can be less painful if your bones are in the right spots.  For the most part, I can move my bones around a bit and keep the pinches away.

Of course she said I wasn't doing the right exercises.  Superman ... Pointer (like a dog) and pushups ... OH BOY!  I'm terrible at it and very sporadic.  It just never jumps into my head ... let's have some fun exercising on the floor!!!  I did maybe three when I got home before collapsing on the couch once again.

Here's some good news .... my roses have all been trimmed up.  My gardener did a great job!  He raked all around them this time ... pushing everything into the grass.  When he mowed, it picked it all up, which made quick work into the trash can.  Thats when I thought ... maybe I should let them grow ten feet tall so I can't see the house next door!!!

Finally, late in the afternoon, I forced myself to head to the sprinkler store.  I noticed one morning that I was nicely watering the asphalt road.  What the heck?  How did THAT happen?  I adjusted one after trying 13 times ... no kidding, those things are hard to adjust.  

One was about to hit the neighbors car, so I tried to fix it, resulting in a stream that didn't move at all.  I HATE SPRINKLERS!!  I found one in the cupboard.  Yes, they live with my slow cooker.

I bought TEN ... hoping that if I replace all the broken ones, they might ... MAYBE ... be good for a whole year before I have to look at them again.  HOOCHY MAMA ... these things are EXPENSIVE!!!  Then of course you have to get the nozzles EXTRA.  No kidding .... $150 later .............

So I asked the very nice sprinkler store owner who I could have fix them all.  They gave me a name and phone number.  It's $25.00 an hour ... since as you know, the minimum wage has gone up.  I haven't called anyone yet, but you know I will because this is just WAY too much work for an old lady!

Dinner was another Hello Fresh extravaganza.  I love Thai food ... and this one looked like a very easy one pan fix.  Oh look ... romaine lettuce boats!!  

It was an easy fix ... and inexpensive too.  What they don't tell you is that when you dump that really hot turkey chili mixture in the lettuce leaves, it instantly turns them into Kleenex tissue that disintegrates completely the first bite you take.  

I spent five minutes cleaning up me, the table and the floor before fixing another one that I ate with a knife and fork.  Quite tasty ... even the part that landed on me!!

And so from sunny California and their flower children of many moons past, I wish you a fabulous day.  Yes I was there, in downtown San Francisco on Haight Ashbury in my cowboy boots, wondering what the heck was wrong with all these kids sitting in the gutters smoking.  Turns out I was NOT of hippy material.

Enjoy your Saturday .........

Spiders And Flies ... OH MY!!

 It was a scorcher ... especially if you have to wear a suit, a heavy jacket and high heels.  But first ... I was completely enthralled by this little guy.  There I was, standing by the door, minding my own business, when I saw something jump on the back door glass.  I jumped in return!!

WOW!!  What spectacular coloring you have!  And what a nice MEAL you have in your little spider jaws.  It's okay, these guys are tiny ... around half an inch long.  These I can deal with.  The fly didn't wiggle long.  Dinner is served!!  More like SOUP I'm guessing.

Maybe this is what bit me on my foot.  I now have a nice 1/4 inch wide hole, about 1/8 inch deep.  The skin just melted away.  It's on the mend now, but I might have been someone's dinner!!

Mr. Sun put on a reeeally big sheeew ... anyone remember Ed Sullivan?  I tried to think of things I could do outside that would not result in a heat stroke.  I ended up doing a little more shrub trimming, but it was just too hot, even in the shade.

I did repair a couple of sprinklers since it was pointed out to me I was wasting water on these 90 degree corners with my 180 degree sprinkler heads.  That was no fun at all.  Here is Mr. Cooper inspecting my work.

In no time I headed off for the big meeting.  I've never been to one of these before and honestly didn't have a clue.  Apparently we have over 20 committee chairmen who do things like Drug Awareness programs, Basketball Hoop Shoots, Government relations, Safety and Inspections, Soccer Kicks, Feeding Kids Programs, Accounting and Audits, Challenged Children Programs ... the list goes on and on.  

Each one writes up a report that is submitted to the District V.P. and answers questions regarding their plans for the year.  My first question was WHAT REPORT?  I HAVE TO WRITE A REPORT?  Apparently I didn't get the memo.  In fact, I didn't know I WAS the chairman of the Safety and Inspection Committee until I saw my name in our newsletter.  Last night, I find out it's not even ME (Fifth Year Trustee) ... it's the FIRST year trustee that should be in my hot seat.

Let's face it ... I faked it.  But at least I was honest and said we would do much better NEXT year.

Well that was fun ... sitting there through all those committee reports while slowly roasting like sitting in my Instant Pot.  Over an hour later there was a rush downstairs for dinner ... another ribeye steak, baked potato with all the fixings, green beans with bacon and onion, salad and rolls.  Oh ... and I almost forgot the best chicken wings EVER!!  I was all over it like a spider on a fly!!!

I played accountant adding up all the $20 dinners before heading back upstairs for one of the longest meetings ever.  About halfway through I could feel the heatstroke coming on.  As the "Safety Officer" I went straight into EMT mode.  I took my jacket off and tossed it on the chair.  OH YEAH ... COOL!!

No, it's not copacetic ... but I did it anyway, right in front of the visiting dignitaries.  I will possibly be fired from my Safety Chairman position.  At least that's what I'm hoping!!

The best part of the night ... more than once, we paused to honor those lost in the war on D-Day.  

I got home really late.  Mr. Cooper was waiting with open paws, giving me what-for ... for being gone so long.  I was able to soothe the savage beast with a little ribeye steak!  Two minutes later we were both asleep on the couch!

I'm not really sure what's going on today.  I'm too tired from an 18 hour day and hardly any sleep.  I'm sure I will think of something .... sooner or later!!!

Just A Hot Day

 Woohoo we got roasted yesterday!  I like my toast extra crispy and that's what we got, but nothing like what's supposed to arrive one week from now.  Of course we all know the weather guessers aren't right that often, so maybe this is the time for them to blow it!  It was 101 yesterday, but heading on up to a scorching 107 by next Wednesday.  

When they say it's a dry heat in the desert, they are right.  There were many days there of 110 and up that didn't affect me like 101 does here.  That makes it an easy choice ... just stay inside in the air conditioning.

I started off like gangbusters though!  Let's tidy up the yard some more.  Nope ... too hot.  Let's tidy up the garage!  Nope ... too hot.  Let's VACUUM!!  Hahahaha you know that wasn't ME saying that!  But I did reach down and push the button on JAMES, my robot butler!

That's when the screaming began.  Yikes!!  If a parrot is in pain or discomfort, believe me, you will know it.  I rushed over to the cage to find Jonathan in distress over a long flight feather hanging off his wing.  He's molting, so I expected that, but this is truly weird.  

After several attempts at cutting it off without losing any of my fingers, I almost gave up.  Now he thinks I'M hurting him and is doing everything possible to sink his sharp beak into my flesh.  Finally, it came loose with a horrific SCREECH from Jonathan.  SUCCESS!!  Well that was just weird ... feathers usually fall right out without hurting them.  

Before it got too hot, Mark stopped back by to try and thread this piece where the grey water dump handle should be.  The original handle was put on with just a tiny set screw that fell off the first trip I took.  We thought to thread the stem and screw on another handle.  That didn't work.

Come to find out, that stem is hollow, requiring a handle like this one, which was not available when I looked for one two years ago.  I finally found one and placed an order yesterday.  Hopefully this will be a quick fix ... maybe.

I figured before it got REAL hot, I would head on off to the Elks for a check signing party.  Honestly, this is like running a huge business!!  Somehow I missed the memo that no one would be there.  We did get a little bit done, with a promise that I would return tonight for our "inspection", to make sure we are doing things properly.  There are rules, don't you know!!

Back home, I crashed.  Up too late, can't sleep, heat ... all a recipe to fall asleep on the couch watching Xtreme Bull Riding.  Lucky for me, I had ordered Hello Fresh and could actually cook something for dinner.

This is that Shepherds Pie I had once before.  Thanks to Barbara Westerfield who had me over to dinner, THS is my favorite meal.  No, I didn't eat the whole thing, but I certainly COULD have!  It's that good!

I'm determined to get a little something done in the garage today.  Every time I walk in there, I cringe.  And there's still that fuel tank that needs to be emptied of sand.  After that I'll probably lounge in my fridge for an hour or so before contemplating the meeting tonight.  It's going to be a long one!!!

Worth His Weight in GOLD!!

 Another hot flash!!  Yessirree Mother Nature is having a hot flash, but not the kind that has you climbing in the fridge.  Extreme heat warnings went out every few hours yesterday.  I don't get it ... why is absolutely EVERYTHING nowadays an EMERGENCY!!!  

The EXTREME HEAT with several major announcements, got all the way up to 101 degrees.  Are they keeping up the sky-is-falling warnings just to see if it still works?  I just don't get it!!  Today will be another one at 101 degrees.  Good grief people!!!

It's okay because I spent most of the day inside.  MOST of it.  Let's get to it!!

My gardener showed up to drastically trim back my rose bushes, though I did have the thought of letting them grow wild and maybe cover up the new house next door.  To save on energy, we raked them all into the lawn and used the lawn mower to pick them up.  That worked REALLY good!  

In the middle of that, my good Elk friend Mark showed up to do a repair on my fifth wheel.  The last time I dumped, I noticed a strap on the sewer line that had broken.  With the terribly rough roads around the country, I was afraid the whole thing would break off.  

You already know my thoughts ... a handy man is worth his weight in GOLD!  This one has had an RV most of his life ... Montanas ... and does all of his own repairs and maintenance.  He's also the Manager of our Elks RV Park!!

With a truck full of tools, he took the broken strap off and began to MAKE a new one out of much heavier "plumbers tape".  He bent it ... cut it ... drilled holes in it ... and VOILA!!!  A new strap.  He said it's not going to look pretty ... did I want him to get a new piece of metal?  Heck no ... that one is just dandy!!

Every time he said "I need this" ... I thought I would have to go buy a tool.  Nope ... he had everything you can possibly imagine in his truck.  

Just to prove the point, when he saw my old fuel tank, he said I should sell it on Marketplace.  This is the weirdest thing ever ... I said I can't because it's full of sand.  I left it here when I had the big tank put in my truck.  Believe it or not, ants decided to make it their condo.  They took grains of sand from underneath and made a HUGE nest, filling the whole thing up.  It's so heavy, I can't move it.

I can fix that he said ... and he whipped out a skill saw from behind the drivers seat to cut open the top, making it easy for me to dig the sand out and get rid of the tank.  Worth his weight in GOLD I tell you!!!!

Lastly, just for good measure, when I pointed out the grey tank pull handle that was missing, he said ... OH ... I can fix that too.  I'll be back tomorrow to thread the handle.  I am forever grateful!!

And so it was BINGO time!!  Everyone should be completely frustrated at the end of the day (like me), to make it impossible to sleep.  OK, not really!!

Here we are ... I'm late.  No worries, I didn't have as much to do on this night.  I even took a chance and parked in a completely different spot.  That will come in later.  I spent the first hour setting up before ringing up the first three customers who get their cards early because they work for Bingo.  The infernal machine stabbed me in the heart.  

The first one "should be $54.00" came to $163.00.  Wait, WHAT??  That's not right.  The next one came to $110.  Well I'm getting closer, but NO ... that's not right either!  At last it came up with the right amount, but caused me another ten minutes of voiding everything that was wrong.  That did not bode well for the long night.

Actually we cruised along quite nicely until the fight erupted.  Someone who bought food from our kitchen, did not go back to pick it up.  It stays hot because there is a warmer light over the counter.  When she finally went to get it, she DEMANDED her money back because it had sat on the counter too long.  Well honey ... whose fault was THAT?  The Knights were called to duty and order restored.

The infernal machine gave me fits here and there, charging out dollar amounts instead of Number of Cards.  I hit 2 REG and got $140.00 when it should have been $20.  It's all fixable, it just takes time.  

Finally the end of the night came ... time to balance.  I held my breath.  Nope, not happening!!  I was $400 off.  You just cannot concentrate when the caller is yelling out numbers, the folks are yelling Bingo and I'm yelling to boot!!  At long last I discovered I wrote down 506 instead of 106.  

Yup ... the infernal machine pulled one over on me ... it was my fault all along!!  I headed out the door, only to find my truck had disappeared.  OH NO ... WHERE'S MY TRUCK?  

Duh ... it's on the other side of the building, remember???  Luckily I got home in one piece to the crazy affection of one sweet puppy dog.  Cooper makes it all better.

Lots on my plate today ... hopefully I remember where I parked my truck this time!

It's Only Money, Right?

 Ugh ... can't we PLEASE go back to sleep?  This is my thought every morning at 3:30 am when I finally open my eyes after laying there awake for 30 minutes.  No kidding little buddy ... can't you hold it?  The answer of course is a resounding NO MOM!!  So out we go into the cool morning air.  Truly, it's the best part of the day!

Going back to bed will never happen.  I can lay there for hours and never fall asleep.  I know this harkens back to the days of gathering cattle where we were up at O-Dark-Thirty saddling the horses.  If you weren't on your horse headed out to the far fields by the time the sun came up, you were BURNING DAYLIGHT.  

Snacks are involved here too.  If he's a good boy, he gets a snack or two or three before he lays down for his first three hour nap.  If only I could do the same.

It was a rather interesting day.  As you know, Dave and Marcia from Florida sent a message that they were getting a new RV ... a Thor Motor Coach Sequence.  Here's a pic I found on the web.  I've thought about these camper vans for a few years, even though everyone says they are too small.  Check out Dave's Blog HERE.  I'm sure he will be posting all about it very soon.

What a coincidence ... one of my long time photography friends just bought a similar version in December.  When I mentioned I was interested, she said to stop by and take a look.  I was all over it!!  But first ... I had a couple errands to run.  I returned the blower with no battery to Home Depot where I stood for 20 minutes to the sound of their phone ringing (that NO ONE picked up) while they tried to figure out their computers.  

Then it was off to the Elks Lodge to turn in some paperwork and get updated on the latest happenings.  Turns out that paperwork that they told me needed to be in TODAY isn't really needed until NOVEMBER.  With that .... I headed straight to Starbucks for a drink.  

Truly, I don't like Starbucks.  How can so many people afford such expensive drinks?  This is black tea lemonade ... perfect for the diet.  Turns out chocolate croissants are NOT so good for the diet, but boy are they TASTY!!!  I ate that thing in one fell swoop!!!  The whole order cost me $8.50, but felt OH SO GOOD!

So there I was at my friends house.  She is from Germany, very quiet and shy and sometimes hard to understand.  I'm actually very surprised that when her husband passed, she purchased this beauty and began to drive around the country.  

She called me for advice now and again and I explained things like dumping the tanks, Happy Camper, conserving water .. you know the stuff.  So far she has been doing really well and just finished up a ten week trip.  

I've been considering a camper van for some time now, mostly because it's so much smaller and easier to handle.  My back isn't getting any better, which means all that hooking up isn't going to go very well.  

I didn't get any pictures at her house, so these all came from the internet.  This is a Canadian built Pleasure-Way Plateau TS ... exactly what she bought last year for a whopping amount of dinero.  Is it worth it?  I probably won't know until I buy one ... IF I buy one.  

Here's the interior, of course taken from the back to make it look SO spacious!  The couch you would be sitting on in this picture, makes into a bed ... with the push of a button.  A queen sized bed if you wish.  The windows are large and open on the bottom to allow airflow.  All around the top are huge storage bins.

Heading forward to the captains chairs, you pass the fridge/freezer ... which amazingly enough, is the exact same size as the fridge in my 5th wheel.  I admit, the walkway is a little tight, but the closet is almost the same size as my 5th wheel closet.  I'm not thrilled with the one burner induction cooktop, but imagine I would just order pizza a lot!  There really is quite a bit of counter space too!

The bathroom you ask?  It's pretty small, but doable.  You have to pull a curtain around to use the shower, with its aqua hot water system.  Even better, everything runs on propane or solar or electricity.  I'm sure I could NOT camp for a month without dumping the tanks.  It dawned on me that maybe this was more of a stay one night, then go explore and stay somewhere else the next night type of rig.  

I want one!!  It's diesel with dually tires in the back.  It can tow 4220 pounds, and my jeep just happens to be 4290.  Not sure I need to do that if I wrap my head around moving more often.  Would sure be nice to have a jeep to run to town with and for sightseeing.  Can I make it over those high mountain passes towing??  The 2023 I am looking at has a 3.0L V6 Blue TEC Diesel engine that I know nothing about.

The killer of course is the price.  It's so very well made and on a Mercedes chassis.  A 2023 model sells for $160,000.  Yes you can buy a lot of 5th wheel for that price, but the quality is beyond belief.  My head is in the clouds right now ... we'll see if I still think it's a good idea in a couple of weeks.  It's like buying a new HOUSE!!!  It's only money, right?  

I spent so much time looking up different vans that I almost missed dinner.  Sometimes I get focused on things like that and suddenly realize it's four hours later.

Dinner was the last of the romaine lettuce wraps, this time with Thai sweet chili sauce.  That stuff makes all the difference!!  I'm liking this MUCH better than with bread!!

And so ended another day as I contemplated draining one of my bank accounts.  My friend thinks I should buy a camper van so we can go to Alaska on a photography adventure.  It's a thought!!!!!

Popping Balloons!

 It was a long day Sunday.  You know how sometimes you have lots to do and problems to figure out?  That was Sunday.  In spite of the coolish weather, I didn't spent ANY of my time outside.  

First off, my supplemental insurance sent a bill for $540.00.  My good day balloon burst!!!  Well that's not happening since I send them a check automatically every month.  It's frustrating to say the least when as you know, you ALWAYS get someone who cannot speak good English.  This is an American company ... why do you hire folks from China??  She said I didn't pay last month and was late this month.  I hung up.

I was on the verge of just paying it when I decided to call once again.  THIS one, though speaking the same broken English, actually SAW my last payment and admitted they changed the due dates to earlier without telling me.  Problem one solved.

It was time for my skinny breakfast.  I stole this sign from Mr. Ed because it's exactly what happens to every diet I've ever been on.  BANG!!  That was another balloon popping!!

Actually I have been doing okay on the diet wagon ... so far.  As you know, I have no willpower when it comes to sugar.  I try to emulate Patsy at every turn since she's so much better at it than I am.  Here's my grilled cheese and tomato lunch on low carb bread.  I know she loves this bread, but it's a hard swallow for me.  I don't know about you, but that almond flour just doesn't hit the spot.  I eat it, but I'd rather have Sheepherder or Sourdough!!

After breakfast, I went after my email problem with a vengeance.  It just seems like they would make computers easier to manage because let's face it, most of us are not techy geniuses.  I have gained a bit of knowledge over the many years, only because one of my jobs with the County involved learning how to use one of the first desktops ever made, so I could teach everyone else how to use it. 

Sadly, we have come so far, they are now very convoluted and hard to navigate.  I learned a lot when I had questions about my husband and my computer.  I began an epic search through every single dark cobwebbed corner of my machine.  Believe me when I say if you delete it, it's still there.  It resulted in a divorce.  That was a BIG balloon!!

So when I actually sat down and began the email quest, it took quite a while to delve into the deep recesses to find there are many places in which to turn your email on or off line.  I rather imagine it was one of those emails I accidentally clicked on, or maybe "I" accidentally clicked something.  That does happen on occasion.

However ..... SUCCESS!!  I found that section, and although it took a few minutes to get it to turn back to ONLINE, I finally succeeded.  My email has returned.  What a pain and a HUGE waste of time!!  Not that I had anything else to do anyway I suppose.

The good news was there were no balloon popping sounds when I worked on this quilt once again.  I think I need to figure out a way to sew standing up.  My back complaineth just like I did about the email.  The blocks are now sewn into rows, but the rows are not sewn together.  I took several aspirin, but it did not do it on this day.  It's the beginning of 100 rodeos in 100 days on the Cowboy Channel, so I plopped on the couch like a popped balloon and watched for the next couple of hours.

This dinner .... THIS popped the last balloon of the day.  Time to eat the last of the taco-ish lettuce wraps.  It needed something.  I scanned the shelves of the fridge to find leftover honey mustard dressing from a spinach salad.  

It was a BIG mistake ... a BIG letdown after that first bite.  I scraped off the dressing as best I could.  Yeah, that didn't work out at all!!  I topped it off with a bitter chocolate candy to get rid of the taste in my mouth.  Oh for a huge serving of ice cream!!

I found at the end of the day I did still had ONE balloon in the air.  The keto ... low carb and no sugar ... diet is working.  Of course my cholesterol is probably through the roof.  I've lost FIVE pounds so far.  I have to admit, it's pretty fun when you put on your big girl shorts and they fall right off onto the floor as soon as you take a couple of steps.  Maybe now I can breathe a little better through those long Elks Meetings.

Quilting And "GB"

 It was Saturday ....  cool, calm and quiet outside as I sat taking in the sounds of the birds waking up.  It was only disturbed by the banging of hammers at 5:00 as the construction guys try to beat the heat.  They are putting down black tar paper on that HUGE roof.  Seriously, there is more wood in that roof than in the entire rest of the house.  

So it was back inside for me as Mr. Cooper kept watch out the windows.  No one, and I mean NO ONE gets by him.  Not a car, a bicycle, a jogger, a kitty kitty or even a lizard without him running to the door.  He's the best alarm system I've ever had.

I didn't have much on my Saturday table, so first off I tried to put the flag light together.  There are no instructions, and only a fuzzy picture.  The screw was way too tiny to hold the clamp in place, and the other BIG screw would not fit through the holes.  

I finally got it together, knowing full well it wasn't going to stay that way for long.  I should have just sent it back immediately.  But NO ... stubborn Nancy went ahead and put it up on the end of the flagpole.  It worked at one point because I saw the lights turn on.  Too bad it didn't work at all once on the flagpole!!  

DO NOT BUY THIS ONE!!  It's a piece of junk ... a waste of $15.00.  Not that I expected it to actually WORK for $15.00, but I thought I might get 30 days out of it.  So now I'm on a mission to find someone to put in a flagpole for me.  So far, no luck.

While setting up the ladder for the flag disaster, I noticed something stick me on the top of my foot.  Must be a branch I thought.  Then FIRE ANT flashed into my head ... nahhhh it's nothing but a stick.

I went to sewing on this baby blanket for the entire rest of the day.  I cut binding, sewed it on by machine and began the laborious task of hand stitching it down.  It was a little more difficult because I used a soft flannel backing.  It's all done now and I hope Grandma likes it.  

I went outside in the not so cool air to relax for a bit.  You don't see this much these days, and I don't know why.  This jet was SCREAMING across the sky leaving a nice slipstream.  That's when I heard the microphones, trumpets and guitars pouring out the latest Mexican dance music extraordinaire.  Thank goodness it's not right next door this time.  I went back inside.

That's when I noticed the huge bump on my foot.  What the heck?  I scraped the top off ... yeah, disgusting ... and drown my foot in alcohol.  It just looked really weird, so I took a closeup with my camera.  I would show you here, but it's pretty awful looking.  Right in the middle are two teeth marks ... like Dracula!!  No kidding ... I guess it's a spider bite?  

I'm still breathing and my foot hasn't fallen off, but it's very angry and red.  I'm checking on my will, just in case!!

In other interesting local news, I knew something was up when I heard the helicopters WAY too close to the top of my house, going around and around.  I'm not sure which place they ended up at, but apparently there were 40 places ... yes, that's FORTY!!!  

They did a big drug bust roundup and nabbed 40 gang members, along with lots of drugs and guns, mostly down the highway in the OTHER town.  Miss Elva asked me what was up!

Here's the good part.  There was a Rapper named GB (stands for Ghetto Boy) who was living in the town closest to me, who was making lots of money with his music.  He donated lots of that green to the city saying he wanted to take care of his fellow man ... give back as it were.  The City gave him a big plaque ... lots of fanfare ... saying he was such a good addition to the world.  

Turns out he was one of the biggest drug guys arrested and that was all drug money he was donating to throw off his REAL line of work.  Too funny!!!  

That's it ... the entire day was spent finishing up the little quilt.  I wandered outside again just to enjoy the scenery, but the MUSICA quickly sent me back inside.  I don't know what's on my menu for today .... maybe a really deep dive into why my email will not load on my computer.

Know Your Insects!

Well shake a leg my great aunt LOU.  It's JUNE already.  With the heat cometh the insects, so I thought I should pass along this useful information for those of you who have insects crawling and flying around this time of year.  Just a side note ... I only have ants.  Lucky for me, they stay outside.  For those who just happen to live in Canada during the summer .... here you go!!!

As for my ant critters, they might have had a name, but are now buried in the deep recesses of the two plants I finally got planted yesterday morning.  Yes it bit me ... a big one too ... before he went over the rainbow bridge.  No worries, it doesn't itch as much as my back does now from the sunburn.

Back to the day before, the Landscape guy showed up just as the electrician was finishing up.  That phone call I never got?  Apparently I had a HOME phone number for him and my phone thought he was a spammer.  I do NOT have that feature turned on, but nonetheless his calls and messages did not come through. 

I wish he would have fixed everything, but some lights still don't work.  He had a traumatic event recently and it shows.  It's okay, I'll find those lights somewhere and fix them myself.  There are two that aren't working and he did not bring any replacements.

This planting of the two shrubs was a lot of work.  Though I have sand everywhere, they must have hauled in lots of sand with concrete tendencies.  Having been raised on a farm, I know my way around a shovel ... but this was tough work.  It took two hours, one ant bite, one scraped shin and a smashed finger to get them in the ground.  

Being rather close to heat stroke by the time I finished planting, I went inside and online to find a light for my flagpole.  The one on the ground just wasn't working.  I'll try to get this one installed today.  How hard can it be?

After finally getting cleaned up and bandaged, I decided to quilt this baby blanket ... with great trepidation.  I had a couple of glitches with the other one and I didn't want a repeat on something I was selling.  

First two rows ... PERFECT.  Then it stopped dead in its tracks and made terrible noises.  I shut it off.  Oh the terror ... that means getting it to start back up in the SAME SPOT.  I let it think about it for 20 minutes before resetting everything.  OH THE RELIEF when it stitched to the end with no more troubles.  Now to hand sew the binding.

I learned something new when it came time for dinner.  All this time I've been using the WRONG lettuce. Just look at this stuff ... big leaves ... big enough to hold a cheeseburger, a BLT sandwich or even these fajita pork burritos.  Wraps they call them.  Here's the before picture where they placed everything with a pair of tweezers and jazzed up the color.

Here's the REAL version.  I have to admit ... these were really GOOD!!!  I'm buying this kind of lettuce from now on and using it for everything!  You don't even have to wash silverware!!  It's a Win-Win!

One last picture of the lighting before I hit the sack.  It's not so much the ambience, but the fact that there is no street light close to my house.  At least this way I can see if someone is breaking in, you know, in order to fling a few pieces of lead their way.

I'll be back in the yard this morning, since it seems no one has raked the trash out of my flower beds for maybe a year?  That will be a very EARLY morning venture since it's supposed to be up to 92 degrees later today.  Perfect for inside rodeo watching!!  

HAPPY SATURDAY!!!