It's Christmas Eve!

 Lookie here ... blue sky!  Can you believe it's Christmas Eve?  Wow did this year go by fast!!  

This Christmas Eve Eve, as much as I wanted to just lay in bed all day, we were up early and heading out on a morning dog walk.  I don't know how Cooper does it because I KNOW he doesn't drink THAT much water.

Here I am, snuggled in between the orange trees.  If you haven't stayed here around December or January, you are missing out on the free oranges.  Try for the high ones though ... they are the best.

We were off early, but not near as early as I would have liked.  On the other hand, I don't have to go 55 mph in this rig, and though I don't like to speed, we cruised along at or a little above the speed limit the entire way.  All went well until I stopped for fuel in Barstow.  

I stuck in my credit card before looking at the pump.  Flying J only had B20 diesel at the pumps.  I cannot use that in my engine.  I cancelled, then drove across the freeway to see what I could find.  Diesel #2 was at the Union 76 station, so I rolled in to the honks of cars.  I put the gas cap on, but didn't close the little door.  Good grief ... that's embarrassing!  Diesel #2 was $4.89 a gallon.  Barstow is always the most expensive.  

Then it was on to Yucca Valley, heading to Indio.  That's when I realized something about this rig.  If you let it roll downhill, it will get up to 120 ... not my cup of tea.  Usually when you set the cruise control, you are out of control going downhill.  In the case of this rig, you set the cruise control and it keeps you there.  You would think sooner or later it will let go, but it seemed to work kind of like a Jake brake.  Well that was fun!

Just past Indio, the construction began.  That should have slowed us down a bunch.  I'm here (still alive) to tell you that the uphill traffic heading east through a massive 55 mph construction zone, went 75 mph the entire way ... cars and trucks alike.  For one, I was shocked at the speed, and for two, I was surprised that this little diesel engine not only kept up, but could have passed them all.  

Going West was another story altogether.  Luckily I wasn't going that way because traffic was a parking lot for five miles heading downhill.  If you are traveling anywhere near this place, go another way.  

At long last, 6 hours later, an exhausted Nancy pulled in to the RV park.  Bill came to meet me in the office and got a reprieve.  This time he didn't have to park my rig!!!  Not that I was any good at it, but I got it in the 30 x 50 spot with no trouble!!

After setting up, I walked over to play with Gibbs in the gazebo, and chat with Patsy and Bill.  It's so good to see them again!!  Soon Patty and Duncan came over.  What a nice couple!!  We discussed lots of things including Starlink, because by then I had discovered there were NO television stations around here that my rig would pick up.  Noooooooo I MUST HAVE TV!

A wonderful invitation to dinner ensued, but I had to feed Mr. Cooper first.  We went for a walk around the park and were just in time to watch the sunset.

That turned into THIS.  Nothing like being welcomed back to Arizona with a nice sunset.

Bill grilled sausages, which I smothered in relish and mustard.  YUM YUM!  Much better than that tuna salad and crackers that was on MY menu.  I sprang for dessert ... three ice cream drumsticks from Nestle.  They disappeared before I could take a picture.

Just look at this cute Christmas tree.  All the decorations Patsy and Bill have put up make it so Christmasy and warm.  I think I have room for a string of lights over the kitchen sink, but that's about it.

Mr. Gibbs got a whole bag of goodies ... that basket I won at the Sheriff's Canine Banquet.  Most likely they are all too big for him, but he loved the green thingy ... whatever it is.  

Cooper wasn't left out ... Gibbs gave Cooper an indestructible parrot to chew up that looks suspiciously like Jonathan.

In two seconds he was on it ... squeaking the squeaker!

And would you look at this?  Patsy said she knew I didn't drink much, but that I would probably like this.  Like it, I LOVE it!!  Basically I do drink it with a few bites of pancake.  I can't believe I have been so lucky to meet such wonderful people in my RV life.

And so the night ended, but there will be more Starlink discussions, and maybe a Dish Network dish in the mix because it's way TOO quiet around here with no TV and no radio ... 

Which reminds me, I actually did subscribe to SiriusXM last night.  There's no CD player in these things and I needed something to keep me company besides stations that are not in English.  Now I can listen to every single Hockey, Basketball, Football, Baseball and every other kind of ball game, all day long, AND have music.  Three months for free, then $9.99 a month for one year.  Bill said I can download the app on my phone and listen at night while having a breakdown because of no TV.  Hey, it's better than the quiet of nothing!!

Today I'm off to Tucson .......

I'm wishing everyone a wonderful Christmas Day tomorrow with your family, or your significant other, or your little fur kids.  Thanks so much for riding along with me ... you have all become MY family!!

There's Always Something!

AND WE ARE OFF!!  I don't think anyone was really excited about this trip.  Cooper just didn't want to be left behind.  I thought I got everything, but you know how that goes.  

Weirdly, it was raining when I got outside, causing the DUMP effect inside the rig.  

All packed up, we were off to the big town of Bakersfield.  There was no rain the entire trip, but the cloud cover kept up just in case.  At least it wasn't fog, though that is expected this morning.

We drove straight to the RV park, only to find my reservations had been made for the day before.  WHAT?    I told them the 22nd, but apparently it went through as the 21st.  Interestingly enough, they sent a reservation confirmation to my email address, but it has no date .. just times.  I'm sorry, but I know I gave them the correct date.  The girl put my reservation back in the system, but not in the same site, so I am parked closer to the highway.  UGH ... you know what that means.

Of course the first order of business was the orange trees.  They are less than perfect this year.  Most are very small and not yet ripe.  I climbed one tree and got a handful of bigger ones, hoping they are good.  Mr. Cooper of course didn't like raining oranges, but he got out of the way in record time.

Back at the messy rig, I set up Jon's heating pad, then realized it's the one that shuts off after an hour.  Out came the heater, which I hope will keep him warm enough.  He seems to be doing well, since this rig is so much more smooth riding than the truck.  Cooper agrees since he slept in his new red bed the entire way.

Then it happened .... I sat on my glasses.  Oh yeah ... not broken, but bent pretty badly.  I was able to fix one side, but they are crooked enough to be blurry.  Hoping I can get them straightened out once I get to Tucson.  It's always something!

The night went something like this.  Turn the heater on and go to bed.  Get up and turn the heater down, back to bed, get up and turn the charger off, back to bed, get up and get ear plugs, back to bed, get up and turn heater up and back to bed once again.  Wake up, forgot to take pill, wake up again, forgot to fill hot water tank, worry about that, get up and set the fridge for "night" since it was making so much noise.  Oh yeah ... on and on.  I'm sure once I get in a routine and know exactly where to set the heater, it will get better.

We'll head out over Tehachapi this morning, killing my fuel mileage ... 23 mpg so far.  There will be a stop in Barstow for fuel, then on down to Highway 10.  

Oh and by the way, the Quartzsite RV Park called to say they would be without electricity all day.  I'm bummed, but it was very nice of them to call.  I'm hoping it's going to be warm enough I won't need the propane heater.  It also means no microwave for dinner.  I'm in trouble!!

Hitting The Road

Snow Depth - 0".   That's good news on the travel front this morning.  It seems this year, like every other year recently, is not following the protocol.  It's been raining when it shouldn't, snowing when it shouldn't and foggy when it should be sunny.  It appears however that I will have a good travel day.  

In the old days, it wasn't all fun and games going to Bakersfield for Christmas with my Aunt and Uncle.  We all had to hang our heads out the windows and holler to keep the driver and the car on the highway.  Of course back then, the speed limit was 50 (cars didn't go much faster than that) and there were a lot fewer of them!!

Packing didn't turn out to be TOO bad.  Clothes and food mostly, because there's not much room for anything else.  It's being sure I've got everything for the kids that's important.  Especially since Mr. Cooper is slowing down as his age creeps up.  

On to preparation ... I added DEF to the tank, using a lot more than I thought I would, and plugged in to keep the batteries charged when I turned on the fridge.  I have to say, this refrigerator/freezer does an amazing job.  In less than two hours, it was down to temperature and I was hauling out the frozen food.  It's packed to the brim.  

After a quick trip to town for a haircut, I tackled the Christmas lights.  It's not hard, just a lesson in patience as I squished them into two boxes.  

Then came the wreaths.  I have to admit, these command strip hangers worked amazingly well.  Through wind and rain, they never fell down.  Getting them OFF the windows however, wasn't all that fun.  I got the ladder out and the operation began.  The hook was quick to come off.  The little sticky ends you pull down to release it ... not so much.  They kept breaking off.  In the end however, I won the battle.  I will definitely use these again ... and get a couple more for the van!!

After breakfast this morning, I'll pack the remaining items before hitting the road.  I only have one thing in the back of my mind ... the sharp incline of the Chance Ranch driveway.  I don't think I even have 6 inches of clearance under this thing.  Like any new RV ... there's a learning curve ... and WHERE did I put the doggy treats?  The only thing I know for sure is where the coffee is!!!

And I'm OFF .............

The Last Day

HELLO CALIFORNIA!  We had a couple more shakers yesterday, but small ones in the 2's.  It's interesting to note just how unstable our earth is.  There's some kind of small earthquake every few minutes in every part of the world.  Believe it or not, there's more near Fernly and Goldfield Nevada than here.  Our favorite Borrego Springs also has quite a few small ones.  I never realized the earth was rocking and rolling so much!

I actually got my act together very early and was ready to roll at 7:30.  My usual 45 minute trip was sure to take over an hour in the fog.  It was pretty bad on this morning, so I caved and called to change the appointment.  I'm telling you ... those guys are my best friends.  "When you get here, we will pull a guy off and have him fix it immediately".  Not that it was a hard job, but that's pretty nice of them.

I love that every time I drive this thing, I find more and more electronic stuff to confound and confuse me.  While trying to locate trip mileage, I discovered I can access everything from the steering wheel.  A button that would "click" instead of roll would be nice.  I finally gave up after finding 20 different ways to check your mileage, how much you used in the last two seconds and how much def it drank.

Really .. just tell me how many miles per gallon I'm getting.  It was elusive and I didn't want to get in a wreck.  Luckily we cruised right along because THIS time I remembered to close the fridge door and lock the closet.

Did I mention this is a family run store?  I arrived just in time for a quick ride around the building on a two wheeler with training wheels.  My knees were in my teeth, to the giggles of the cute little blond whose bike it was.  

Literally fifteen minutes later I was on the road back home.  I stopped for fuel, at a heart stopping $4.93 a gallon but I only needed 8 gallons to top it off.  Once parked in the back yard, I dumped the water tanks, which I'll refill today.  With that, I should be good to go.

More packing ensued ... mostly critter related stuff.  You can't imagine just how much dog food, dog medicine, dog toys and dog blankets take up, not to mention bird food, bird heaters and bird blankets.  

What about my food?  That will happen today when I plug it in.  I'm sure the fridge will run off the battery for a couple of days, but unplugging in the morning when I'm ready to leave is a small price to pay for peace of mind.

Next on the list ... take down my pretty Christmas lights.  

Lastly, I called my neighbor to let them know I would be gone.  BEST NEIGHBORS EVER!  Look what they did!!!  An ornament for Cooper!

I almost cried when I turned it over.  There was my BABY BOY!!!  Ball and all.  I think this is one of the best presents I've ever gotten.  Now of course I have to find out where she got it so I can get six more of Cooper and several for Jonathan!!

This is my last day to finish up packing.  Then it's off for a haircut and I hope a long nap.  I am so looking forward to doing NOTHING!!

Having A Nog

Short and sweet today.  I'm off very early to get the shade replaced on the van.  That is if I can see.  The Valley Fog has arrived in spades, so I'm not holding my breath.  I'm thinking I will have to call and hope they can make the exchange this afternoon.

Company and I had breakfast together.  Not really.  Coffee was all we could muster up since I had to leave for "work".  I slaved away for 3-1/2 hours finishing up the books for the year.  It's fun to work on a computer that takes 15 minutes just to start up the main screen.  It's really not that old, but with today's technology, they go downhill fast. 

With that out of the way, I headed back home to gather up cleaning supplies.  In talking to the piano repair guy, he asked if I would clean the keys.  She's tuned up and spiffy now, but that's as far as it's going to go.  He doesn't feel comfortable doing the major repairs she requires.  Honestly, I think it sounds just fine the way it is.  I'm pretty sure Liberace won't be playing here, so no one will even know the major overhaul wasn't completed.

Being stressed about not having packed much yet for this trip, I headed down to the bar.  "Another foo-foo drink please"!  Sadly, the ingredients for the lemon meringue pie were not available.  I don't know what this is, but it had eggnog in it, and as I found out half an hour later, BOOZE!  Luckily not enough to mess up my cash register fingers as we sold 118 dinner tickets.  

On this night however, we ran out of food.  Roasted veggies to be exact.  The crew went crazy, chopped up more and threw them in huge frying pans on the stove.  That burnt broccoli ... it will be fine!  My oh my, have you smelled that before?  OOOEEEEY!!  Good thing the steaks made up for it.

Dinner over, I ran upstairs to sit in peace and quiet while the raffle raged downstairs.  Thank goodness there wasn't much going on and we were out the door in 30 minutes!!  

The best part?  No one noticed I was wearing Levis and boots. 

That was it for the day.  No packing at all, no list making and no readiness to leave.  If I'm really lucky, I'll survive the hour trip in the fog and have time for that this afternoon.  It's SO stressful.  Maybe I'll have another drink!!!

Christmas Dinner For A Crowd

 A not so beautiful day arrived out of the fog.  Even though I COULD have slept in an extra hour or maybe even two, my brain would not let that happen.  You know how when you just lay there and you think of things you should have said ... or should have done?  I don't think I have ever counted so many sheep!!  

The fog never let go of its tight grip on the countryside.  In no time I was off and running.  Here's our Bingo room, magically turned into an inviting banquet for the Radio Controlled Car group Christmas dinner.  Luckily we have nothing to do with that, but we DO have to cook dinner for 100 and get it on the road to the Senior Center.

I'm ever so thankful for this crew.  Kathy (second from the left) and her husband Nick (second from the right) have been in the catering business for many years.  I can't tell you how happy I was when they became members and volunteered for BINGO.  There's not another couple as hard working as they are.  

Kathy also volunteers to help the kitchen crew almost every day.  That's the KING in the middle and one of our permanent Bingo players on the right.  Hard to believe we usually cook this feast by ourselves.

Lucky for me, the head Chef had already put the turkeys in the oven.  The crew chopped up the biggest can of cranberry sauce you've ever seen while I scouted out the yams and brown sugar.  Oops ... there was no brown sugar to be found anywhere.

While there, we were dodging a delivery guy.  That's when they told us the brown sugar would be on the SECOND truck.  We waited.  And waited some more.  At long last he showed up and the yams went in the oven.  

Thankfully, the head Chef helped with the magic stuffing mix and the mashed potatoes.  Easy peasy, right?  Just dump in hot water and stir.  On this occasion however, it didn't all work out so great.  We cut up the turkey, loaded everything up into the big keep-it-hot containers and headed out the door right on time.

That's when it all went south.  We told them we would be there at 4:30 and serve at 5:00.  The lady in charge of the facility said NO ... 5:30 and the delivery meals would wait until 6:00.  No No No ... I pulled out my sheet.  You said eat at 5:00!!!  I think she wanted to wrestle over it.  Obviously she is NEVER wrong ... but I was at the meeting and I wrote it down.  I even showed her my notes.  She was not impressed.

Suddenly there was a knock at the door.  She went over, pointed at her watch and put her hands on her hips.  What the heck?  The little old 80-something lady said "can I come in please"?  NO ... 5:30.  You cannot come in until 5:30!!  Good grief ... this lady in charge is a mean awful person.  

I heard the little old lady say ... but I'm cold ... please let me in.  OMG .... she was told NO.  I said loudly ... for heavens sake, let the lady inside!!!  She begrudgingly opened the door.  We are serving in this big common room, so it's not like a restricted area or anything!!!  

Finally the King said we need to get going in spite of her protests.  We got the food out of the containers and began to prepare 44 to-go meals for those that cannot come to the room ... or don't want to face the ogre of the castle.  With that done, she finally let everyone else into the two big rooms.  The serve was on!!

I have to say here, I really do appreciate the lodge cooking crew OH SO MUCH.  However ... the frozen peas we ordered turned into CANNED.  They were that lovely army green color and tasted terrible.  The potatoes were perfect, but the stuffing?  It turned into a BRICK.  It was very dark brown and didn't even LOOK like stuffing.  I think they didn't use enough water.  You could barely cut it with a knife.  

So in my humble opinion ... this was the worst dinner we have cooked for them.  That made me sad.  You know sometimes, you just have to do it yourself.  The good news is they had pumpkin and pecan pie for dessert.  

We headed to the lodge at 6:15 where we unloaded all ten big pans and began the cleanup.  We had a little turkey left over that we split between us so at least everyone got a turkey sandwich for dinner.  YUM!!

I got home just in time for company to arrive.  It's going to be a short visit however, since I'm out the door by 10:00 for bookkeeping, then back to the lodge for lodge dinner night.  I think I should have my own parking spot!!  I hate to say it, but I'm going to enjoy being gone for a while!!!

HOW MANY BINGO PLAYERS?

 Did I mention it rained all day Monday?  I'm on my weather app constantly now, praying for good weather for this coming weekend.  I'm hoping Mother Nature gets it all out of her system before then.  That also means a check of my schedule, which has gone off the deep end.  WAY too many things to get done in WAY too short of time.  

First off ... let's have lunch with the Bingo crew at our usual haunt.  Why oh why I decided to change up my order, I'll never know.  Those two chicken tacos, were bad with a capital B.  Hardly any chicken at all, stuffed into a corn tortilla and thrown in the deep fryer.  This is a taco?

After I let the grease drain out for 60 seconds, I took a bite, only to find the oil was on the verge of rancid.  I ate one in silence.  The second one stayed on my plate as my stomach screamed WHAT ARE YOU DOING?  A good way to start off Bingo!

But first ... as I walked by the lodge room, I heard keys being played.  I'm one of the people who voted to have our 111 year old grand piano repaired no matter what the cost.  I may have to back step on that one.

It was purchased by this lodge specifically FOR this room, and has lived here ever since.  For the last maybe 30 years, it has not been used much at all.  It appears the inside was used to hide drinks at one time, making it even more of a mess.

How lucky could I be ... our piano repair guy had come up from Modesto to take a look and give us an estimate.  He was tuning it as I watched and listened.  What a difference he made!!!  Still not truly up to par, but WOW!!  It seems the felts are very worn, some actually torn in half.  The wires really need to be replaced, as do the strings.  Needless to say, it will cost a small fortune and I'm not sure I'm comfortable with spending that much money.  I'd tell you HOW much but you would faint.

These are the strings.  There are 80 of these babies that are 111 years old.  They are stuck into the bottom board with glue and a toothpick.  Can you imagine how long it will take to remove and replace those?  And that's only one small portion of the required program.  

Anyway .... after helping him for a bit, I was off to BINGO!!  

There were problems.  It seems a couple of volunteers bought some pull tab game cards (more than once) and had players PLAY those cards.  Three have won payouts.  That makes the peasants bring out every shovel, arrow, sword, flaming torch and pitchfork they have at their fingertips.  

I told the King, and we agreed that was not allowed.  Especially since it is totally against the rules.  It might have been overlooked, except one of those volunteers went out and screamed like a banshee that he won.  That was a telltale error on his part.  Volunteers cannot buy ANY bingo tickets now.  

And then the crowds came.  YIKES!  Every other bingo game in the county has been shut down for Christmas.  That means they all came here.  I mean really, the line was clear to the back wall for an entire TWO solid hours as I went as fast as I could to get them all in before games started at 6:30.  

To make it worse, you know those red tickets we used to hand out?  THIS time we handed out GOLD tickets worth $10.00 each.  I gave warning after warning ... DO NOT LOSE THESE TICKETS, they will NOT be replaced.  When we start back up in January (we are now closed for two weeks) they can bring the ticket and we will pretend it's a ten dollar bill.  Merry Christmas to the peasants!  They were ecstatic!

I waited not in vain.  The first peasant came up and said her "friend" lost her ticket.  I'm sorry, but no tickets will be replaced.  I can almost tell you which ones will try it.  She walked away without a word, so I know it was a ruse.  Most don't even try any more because they know I don't fall for anything.  

Next up our usual thief showed up.  This lady ... she tries to steal from us every single week.  She spends a fortune playing and many times doesn't even recognize that she won ... and no one at the table will tell her because she tries to cheat.  She only gets a few cards, then comes back to get a few more, grabbing five and holding them in her hand while telling me she has one.  EVERY TIME!  And every time she gets caught.  She also rudely pushes others out of the way and cuts in line.  She must be 70 something, maybe older, and knows better!

So how many bingo players are in the room?  158 of them.  That's a record for us.  They were rewarded with $300 pots for most every game instead of the usual $250.  They were some kind of happy campers over THAT.  

It being too close to a full moon, the infernal machine went ballistic, printing out "received on account" tickets instead of PAYOUTS.  What a pain THAT was.  It was WAY past my bed time when I got home.  The good news is I am NOT the one who has to collect those gold tickets come January.  My replacement has me on speed dial.

And so ended another busy day, which will be followed today by cooking from 1:00 til 4:00, then serving dinner to the seniors.  AND I have company coming for the night.  She will have to park in the driveway til I get home.  It's going to be another crazy one!!

Second Time Around

 Oh what a night!  Every day I'm thankful I wake up alive.  On this night I saw 10:15, 11:35, 2:02 and 4:11 before finally waking up at 4:38 from one of my original horrific dreams.  This was a doozy!  My husband was driving the big RV up a winding hill looking for Patrick Mahomes house.  The road got narrow so I got out to take a look.  In an instant I yelled NO ... ELEVATOR!  He drove the RV right into the elevator shaft where it crashed five stories to the ground.  You can't say I don't have a good imagination.  

There was lots of screaming and yelling as folks below tried to extract someone from the wreck that I didn't know.  They couldn't find my husband.  I'm telling you, something goes wonky in my brain when I sleep.

A few hours later, I walked outside to see this beautiful sunrise.  It instantly made my day all better.

Time to feed the kids, whereupon I realized I did not have enough bird biscuits to last Jonathan on our trip.    I whipped up a quick batch full of yams and sunflower seeds.  Yucky pooh!  But Jon loves them.

I ate one of my cinnamon rolls for breakfast.  I was less than impressed.  Enough so that I got out all the ingredients to make a SECOND batch.  Maybe the second time around will be better.  And better they were.  This time I added butter to the pan bottom and more sugar to the middle.  They came out perfect!

Once done, you turn them upside down on foil to let all the goodness flow out.  When cool, they will go in the freezer.  This is a sugar fest for Christmas morning!!!

Lucky for me, they had just come out of the oven before I got the call.  My friend Renate from Germany who is ever so hard to understand with her accent, called to say her van battery died.  Oh girlfriend ... do I ever have experience with that!

She loves to travel, so when her husband passed away, she bought the same one I have.  One difference, her chassis is the same, but her van build is 2023 while mine is 2024.  Lots of changes there.  

Anyway, I said SURE ... I'll come over and give you a jump.  She had one of those "jump your battery one time" things, but it would not work.  Anyone have experience with those?  It kept beeping at her.  Do you leave it on for a long time before starting?  I pulled into her driveway (thankfully there was room) and got out my jumper cables.  I was a little nervous, as I always think I'm going to get electrocuted.

Did I mentioned it rained all day?  Oh yes, hooking up jumper cables in the rain is such fun!!!

I left my engine running and hooked up the cables.  I told Renate to wait for a few minutes as I had been told.  I finally asked her to start it up and VOILA!!!  It worked!!!  She looked at me funny and said "where did you learn to become a mechanic?"  Honestly, I was just hoping that unlike mine, her lights would work.

An hour later I got a call.  She had a battery light appear on her dash.  Funny, I didn't get that one.  She called and now has an appointment at Mercedes to get it checked out.  Way too much electronics on these things that can get screwed up so easily!  Hopefully I didn't do it when I jumped it.

I spent the rest of the day watching the news and Holiday Baking.  If that doesn't get you baking, I don't know what will.  Here's an interesting one ... rolls in your crockpot.  I'll try it out after Christmas so you don't have to.  I mean what could go wrong?  Besides everything .........

I don't think I have a spare minute this week before I take off.  Lunch today, BINGO, Senior Dinner, Lodge meeting, client year end bookkeeping, packing ..... oh and the RV shop called to say my new shade was in and could I please come get it installed before I leave.  I do not have a minute to spare!!!

Things That Make You Wonder

 It was an unusual day ... which seems to happen quite often around here.  After that big rain storm, white puffy clouds came out with the moon.  It made me wonder if this day would be a wet one also.  Lucky for me it was not raining, since I washed that rug and threw it out on the patio to dry.  What was I thinking?  It didn't get dry at all.  It's now sprawled out over my kitchen counter, the only place big enough where it won't damage the floor.

Sometimes I wonder why it takes me so darn long to get things done.  At long last this little quilt is ready to go.  For now, it's scheduled to be Jonathan's latest blanket.  It's just the right size.

About that time I got a notice from Social Security.  That DEFINITELY makes me wonder.  They said I got a 2.5% inflation raise, but they are now taking out 18% MORE for Medicare.  In other words, by the time I get paid and of course pay the taxes, I have a whopping $660 dollars to live on.  It's a good thing I worked hard and got retirement benefits.

Here's a head scratcher.  There was a tornado in Scotts Valley, right outside Santa Cruz California.  Of course San Francisco took credit for it immediately, saying it was THEIR warning.  It flipped several cars over and torn out power lines, but for the most part no buildings damaged.  A very rare occurrence indeed.

While wondering about what I was going to do for food next week when I'm gone, I whipped up some meatloaf.  I wonder why I can never replicate the recipe I used to use.  Ask me what's in it and I could tell you in a flash.  Now I actually have to look up a recipe on the internet.  It never tastes the same.  It did turn out very good, but just not the same.

There was no wondering about this.  Grilled Cheese for lunch while the rolls raised.

Oh yeah ... I don't know what got into me, but I got the insane idea to make our cinnamon rolls of old.  I even got out my grandmother's old Better Homes and Gardens recipe book and looked it up.  My kin were a family of cooks.  The number of hand written recipes stuck in those books would make up another whole book by themselves.

I couldn't put my finger on it, but something was amiss.  I know this is how we did it.  Turn on the oven, turn it off, stick the dough in to let it rise.  Brown sugar and walnuts in the pans ... roll up the dough.

Squirrel .... sometimes it makes me wonder how I can get so distracted.  It's not raining and the gutter needs to be cleaned.  I hauled out the ladder and climbed the steps, only to find that the wind had already blown most of them OUT.  Yay!!  

Honest, I was only out there ten minutes!!  OH NO ... the first batch of rolls were maybe just a bit overdone.  This is the second batch.  You didn't think I was going to show the too-brown ones, did you?

They are actually fine.  I turned them upside down to cool.  It's then that the wondering ceased.  I had used dark brown sugar instead of LIGHT brown sugar.  The difference is in the burn temperature.  Truly, they are not burned, and even if they were I would eat every one.   I'm sure they'll be fine.  If not, I can always pour maple syrup over the top!!

Oh wait ... I remembered!!  We added melted butter to the pan before covering it in brown sugar.  THAT'S why they were more juicy so to speak.  Better luck next time ... I'm writing that in the book so I don't forget.

This morning I'm off to dump a bundle at Costco.  We need chicken for the freezer.  Actually COOPER needs chicken for the freezer.  Maybe if I'm a really good girl I'll find something yummy in the cookie department.  Don't tell my diet or my wallet!!!

Wreaths Across America

 Good rainy morning to ya!!  The perfect kind of day to stay in bed, but alas my alarm rang at 4 am just to be sure I was up.  It's that one day of the year I get up and get out regardless of the weather.  This is Wreaths Across America Day.  

These wreaths are made in Maine from balsam fir trees grown on farms.  Handmade no less.  I can't imagine how long that took because they are all wired together.  4200 organizations lay over 3 million wreaths across the U.S.  They are delivered to our Elks Lodge in big trucks and kept in a storage building out back.  We distribute about 300 for our lodge, amounting to around $5,000 worth, all paid for by Bingo.  Pretty cool, yes?

We have a list of every soldier who was a member of our lodge and they each get recognition, a wreath, and their name called out loud.  It's part of our tradition to always remember those who sacrificed their lives to keep our country free.

Here's part of the crew, with coffee and donuts in hand.  In spite of the rain outside, we will deliver and place wreaths as far as 50 miles away, at any one of about 20 cemeteries.  By the time we left, it was pouring rain.  I was incognito ... I wore my cowboy hat, boots and long coat.  No one ever recognizes me in my cowboy hat.

We all carry a list of names and site numbers as we load up and hit the road.  My RV friend Mark and I headed out with a new recruit, the head of the County School District.  I figured that would be an interesting ride under the current circumstances.  Turns out it was all good as we drove to the National Cemetery on the West side of our County.

This is the entry gate.  Every time I come here, I can't believe how beautiful it is, even with brown grass.

This picture is to show you the trees.  Every tree along here is named for a submarine that was lost in a World War.  There's a plaque at the bottom of each one.  

You can't imagine just how huge this cemetery is.  Sadly, they don't allow upright gravestones any more because of the enormity of the cemetery.  Just a side note, this entire 322 acres was donated by a cattleman.

Of course nothing happens without a little problem or two.  Area C12 had the marker number, but not the right name.  It seems there is Area C ... marker 12-304, and then there is AREA C12, marker 304 which was on the farthest side of the cemetery.  I think we walked 2 miles before we figured that one out.

At long last, this was the final placement on our list.  Time to head out.  

This is the dash of Mark's truck.  Sometimes things just don't go the way you think in your head.  

I was trying to get this image of the statue.  It was very weird when we were there.  It poured all the way, stopped as we drove in the entry gate and was sunny with a few clouds the entire time we were laying the wreaths. 

We even had not one, but TWO rainbows the entire time we were there.

It's really a beautiful place.  

Just as we were driving out the gate, the rain and wind came again in full force.  Others were not so lucky.  They came back to the lodge soaking wet.  It just goes to prove we would not be deterred in our quest.  It was all good though because it was Eggnog Saturday ... a Christmas tradition at the lodge that warmed up the troops.  

The place was packed, but I got in and out, not recognized at all, while snitching the last maple bar donut.  

It was a GOOD DAY!!!