Friends In High Places

Now THIS is scary!!!  Meet my roommate Morganstein, who showed up on my Facebook feed yesterday ... in 3D no less.  That must be what set off some crazy nightmares about Robert Downey Jr.  It' a good thing you can't actually enter your dreams!!

At any rate, it's an absolutely fabulous 64 degree morning as I soak up all the cool I possibly can.  The windows are open and the fans running.  I have to admit though ... this heat really is getting to me.  I've slowed down considerably.  We are now looking at only 102 every day for the next week.

Early yesterday, Cooper and I went out for a marathon walk in the neighborhood.  Boy does he love running amuck ... or at least as amuck as you can get on a 25' leash!

Upon our return .... SHOCK ensued!  HALLELUJAH!!!!!  WE HAVE LANDED IN THE WORLD OF SOLAR!!  How did that happen before the August 26 date the lady gave me?  I guess it helps to have friends in high places.  Or at least friends of friends.  

One of the Knights of Bingo came to my rescue.  His good friend is a mucky muck in the PG&E solar department.  He said he would check it out for me.  Yesterday ... in my junk mail folder ... I discovered a weird looking message from NEM.  I would have trashed it, but a little light went off in the far reaches of my brain that said "is that Net Energy Management"?  Is that PG&E??

Soooooo .... they didn't have to come to the house and inspect the system like the lady said, nor did they have to set a new meter like the lady said.  Apparently all they had to do was click on something that would track my production.  WOOHOO!  I'm in business. 

No, I didn't run over and turn on both AC units.  I only turned on one and set it to 82.  I can be reasonably comfortable with that until I see the proof of the pudding in the reconciliation papers they will send me in 30 days.  I'm not sure if I can "see" anything online or not ... I'll check.

Thank the Good Lord for friends and miracles!!!

I actually spent much of the day on the couch drinking gallons of water and recouping from the Bingo marathon.  Another couple of hours was spent with Arizona Department of Transportation.  Every year they send the license renewal for my truck which says 2 years for $68, no smog required.  Every year I send payment, they return it to me with a note that smog is required and I can only renew it for one year.  Crazy, right?  I guess California isn't the only state that has screwy departments.

Since I can't get there for a smog test by the due date, I just sent it in again, whereupon it will be returned and we'll do it all over!!

Actually my plan was to take off immediately and head South, except I remembered I fired the lawn crew.  The new guys start August 3rd ... so now I have to hang around two more weeks.   

More progress on the quilt happened.  Gosh, this is going to be a queen size I think.  By the time I get all the stuff in between the squares, it's going to be BIG!

I watched another Extreme Bulls competition, feeling bad for those kids riding.  Most are between 18 and 24.  It was a tough night where only a few guys actually rode their bulls.  They didn't even have ten for the final competition.  They were all limping and holding their arms and two got badly hurt.  The bull fighters weren't the best on this day.  Sady, it's only the beginning of the season.  

Not really wanting anything hot or heavy for dinner ... I'm kidding myself here ... I chopped up the meat from a smoked rib, smothered it in cheese and threw on some homemade salsa to make my nacho plate dinner.  It doesn't look all that great, but it sure tasted good!!

Cooper is chomping at the bit, so I'm off for a cool morning walk.  Then I'll check out my PG&E account and see what things look like.  I imagine I'll see the usage, but not the production.   At any rate, I'm relieved I don't have to drink quite so much water to combat the "glowing" on my couch.  I'm smiling again!!

It's BINGO Time .... Yawn!!

 Oh yeah .... it's back to 68 degrees this morning.  That should cut down my 916 kWh of electricity for one month to something more normal.  Okay probably not, so let's make it all better by having TWO cups of fake coffee this morning!!  It was a late might at Bingo and I'm already yawning!

The day went well.  I think I only scratched this ant bite 26 times instead of the normal 35.  To make it worse, it's right under my watchband.  I've thrown everything I've got at it with no change.  I received the replacement box of seed yesterday, but I put on gloves and opened it outside.  I wasn't taking any chances.

It was garbage day ... how fun is that? ... so I gathered up everything I could.  It's interesting to note that I am the only house in the middle of six that has garbage service.  Seriously, what do these people do with their garbage?  There are a minimum of four people in each house.  Do they know something I don't?  Do they eat it??  It just fascinates me, especially when I know the amount of trash "I" have!

On the way back, I stopped at the mail box.  That's a rarity for me nowadays since I have everything marked paperless.  Sorry, it's not because I'm trying to save the trees, it's more because the Post Office has raised their P. O. Box rate to $390 a year.  

It didn't help ... that part where they were broken in to not once, but TWICE and never contacted me.  Wasn't I surprised to find this lovely letter from the Attorney General of California.  It's notifying me that all of my personal information ... name, age, gender, address and other essential data I won't mention ... was made public for a period of 24 hours.  In fact, the list was downloaded many thousands of times.  

They tried to say social security numbers were not included, but I don't believe them.  That's the main identification system for this file.  They said the personnel who were responsible would be "addressed", whatever that means.  Hopefully fired, but that won't really help once the horse is out of the barn.  I see lots of repercussions over this one!!  No surprise though ... that's California government.

At last it was time to head out to the Castle to see what the peasants were fighting about this time.  There was almost a knock-down-drag-out fight about who gets to enter the building first.  Members can come in early and stake their claim on a seat.  Everyone else has to wait.  

That brings out the pitchforks and torches when someone enters who the peasants think is NOT a member.  The howls could be heard clear upstairs.  I have learned to keep my nose to the Pepsi and not venture out until my appointed time.

It actually wasn't TOO bad on this night.  The bingo machine has a screw loose that makes it shut down occasionally, followed by frantic wire wiggling.  If he's lucky, the Caller gets it going in a few seconds.  Like the infernal machine, on this night it threw a fit and refused to spit out the little balls.  The cat calls were loud enough to wake the dead.

With it finally working again, everyone was good for all of five seconds when someone didn't yell Bingo loud enough.  If the caller doesn't hear you and he calls the next number, you lose.  Yup ... that's the rules.  It doesn't matter who heard you whisper the magic word, you STILL lose.  

As much as Bingo players are all about THEIR lucky charms, they are even MORE adamant when you don't give the pot of gold to the player who was too meek to scream.  In a flash, we were twenty minutes behind schedule.  That doesn't bode well for me who has been up since 4:00 in the morning.

It didn't help that we were short handed.  The Castle Knights have figured out they can come in early, set up and then leave by 7:00.  Only one more poor scullery maid ran around for three hours paying out Bingos.  No worries, she was highly compensated with a package of M&M's.  It's the sugar that keeps us going.

At last I too was able to sneak out the back door to the screams and chanting of CALL THE NEXT NUMBER!!!  You never want to make a mistake or call too slow.  After all, the Peasants have rules too!!

This nice sunset was from the night before.   I thought maybe our 106 degree weather would be cooled off by a little rain, but it wasn't to happen.  

Here's something interesting I discovered.  Everyone in this neighborhood has purchased swamp coolers and stuck them in their bedrooms.  Apparently I'm not the only one who doesn't use their AC.  I'm not sure I could stand the noise, but it's a thought!!!   Oh and one other thing ... my last bill did not include the last two weeks of 106 weather.  I expect my next bill will be in the $500 range.  Literally everything just got turned off!!!

SCREAM!!!!! Big Sigh

You probably know exactly what the scream was all about.  Yessirree ... as I sat on the now 80 degree patio at 4:30 in the morning, I received my PG&E bill on my phone.  So much for quiet peaceful coffee time.  

I didn't go bonkers when the solar was put up ... I simply turned the thermostat down to 82 degrees from 85 where I normally keep it.  I admit, I'm usually gone during the summer months, so there's that.  Here's the bad news ... MY PG&E BILL FOR JULY ..... wait for it .....  $325.  That's $100 more than last month, even though I've turned the sprinklers down by 4 hours a week and only turned my thermostat down 2 degrees.  That threw me right down into the dumps.  My account says I'm using 792 kWh a day with my AC set to 82-85!!!!  Until PG&E gets here and sets the new meter, I'm going to be HOT HOT HOT ... and not in a good way.

Add to that my usage during the last 15 days is less than the first of the month.  I HATE THEM!!  Can you just imagine how much everyone else's bill is?  Yes, I have closed off every room not used daily, turned out every light and only use the toaster oven for breakfast.

So to calm the angry seas, Cooper and I went out for a nice long walk/run.  I walk really fast and he runs 25' ahead of me.

The countryside is very pretty since it is a nice neighborhood.  This was the original ranch property that sold out to a subdivision.  Nice fence!!  You should see the new house they just built there.  I'll catch it on the next trip around.

This is my neighbor's house.  They also put up a beautiful fence and are having lots of landscaping done.  Yesterday they were spreading white rock everywhere.  They fired the same gardeners I have about 8 months ago.  It seems their new guys are doing a pretty nice job.  

Since every house in the hood looks this nice, I have to try and keep up appearances as best I can.  Two minutes later I was in the back yard turning on a water hose.  The hose bib is covered by a bush.  Here's the good part ... my gardeners cut that brand new hose to pieces using the shrub trimmer on a hand-trimming bush.  

That was it!!!  YOUR'RE FIRED!!  I went right next door to the guys working there and asked for an estimate to do my yard.  I talked him down to $170 a month, saving me $30 which will go towards the electric bill.  Take THAT you guys that don't care what you cut up!!  Are you shocked?  I am ... that's just not me.  I'm too easy ... I let things go ... I don't like confrontation.  Let me count ... I have now fired five gardeners and we'll be working with numero six.  

Trying to keep my mind off of electricity, I whipped up another veggie omelet for breakfast.  Well that didn't last long ... I'm craving meat.  Still, it's filling enough that I got up the energy to do some weed spraying around the property.  

The next bee in my bonnet was the alarm system.  That yellow light just didn't want to go away, even with the new battery.  Although I didn't expect him until 3, the VERY tall drink of water showed up at 1:00.  Oh to be 40 years younger!!

The problem?  The system communicates by 3G.  All 3G towers in this area have been removed.  A simple replacement of the antenna is all that is required.  Three hours later he still could not get the trouble light to go away.

Call your boss I said ... tell him to get out here.  At long last he got the one-who-knows-all on the phone.  They had to delete the entire program, then reprogram the system to 4G.  Yahoo!!!  I'm back in business.  I sure hope they don't charge me for that three hours.  At this point it's supposed to be $150!!  Just another "house" expense!!  No this is not my alarm system, but I'm not showing you what it looks like or where it is, right???

When dinner time rolled around, I wasn't in the mood for veggies.  A month ago I bought a bag-o-beef patties, like I see lots of other people using.  I've never bought a pre-made patty in my life.  Let's see how they are.  

I threw it on the BBQ stone cold frozen, not really sure that's a good idea.  It's an experiment!!  In a few minutes, I turned it over.  Looking good!!!!!

I was sure it was ready, so I walked out with my spatula and opened the lid.  WHAT?  It was blown up like a basketball!!  Let me just say it's not a good idea to poke a basketball.  They can explode!!!  Oh yeah!!!  Juice squirted out like squeezing a can of lighter fluid on a campfire.  I jumped back as three foot high flames reached for the ceiling (I'm on the patio).

I slammed the lid shut and waited. With no more flames shooting out, I gingerly opened the lid to find my now half sized burger a little overcooked.  You know what?  It didn't matter.  It was just as tasty as it looks, except for a little black around the edges.  

I spent the rest of the night sweating on the couch.  No WAY am I turning the air up.  My cool morning air is 82 degrees and it's going to be another scorcher of 105 today.  I'm putting on my bathing suit and heading for the bathtub!!!

And then it's BINGO TIME!!!  Gosh the days are flying by!!!

THE EARTH HAS TILTED!!

My morning routine has become stuck in concrete.  With my eyes still half shut, I whipped up a delicious cup of hot water in which to pour those lovely granules of sweetness.  A quick stir and I'm in business.  I turn the AC on and head out to the cool air of morning.  

Although I think I'm not being billed for this coolness, or so the contractor said, I'm not going overboard with the AC.  I don't want PG&E to hit me with a huge bill while I wait for them to set the new meter.  In the meantime, I did swelter quite a bit yesterday with this temperature.  

I don't remember it being this hot since I was a kid.  I think the earth tilted yesterday ... weird things began to happen!!

Take for example I never have any warning of it being NATIONAL ICE CREAM DAY!!  Now that's a holiday I can get behind, but every year I miss it.  Finally, after all these years, I saw someone make the announcement.  That was enough for me .... after all, who doesn't want to celebrate THAT day!  Why it would be unAmerican!

But first ... maybe I'll have a little breakfast, although ice cream for breakfast is not beyond the imagination.  I scanned the fridge for fodder when the light bulb in my brain went on.  There is seriously something wrong here ... I actually thought a veggie omelet would be great.  That thought hasn't entered my mind in 20 years!!

Ahhhhh I forgot to take a picture.  There is definitely something wrong though, since that even sounds good for a second day in a row.  What happened to the bacon?  The hash browns?  The butter smothered toast?  No kidding, I had a veggie omelet for breakfast.  I know the world must have tilted overnight.

And then it was NOON!  Time to head out for that delicious Cold Stone treat ... my all time favorite ice cream ... Coffee Lovers!  Coffee ice cream full of Heath Bar chunks and caramel sauce.  I did make one big mistake ... I ordered a LARGE.  I never do that, mostly because I can't eat that much!  

With temps over the roof, I sat inside their tiny shop and at least TRIED to eat the entire thing.  I won't do that again!!  HOWEVER, unlike that half a muffin I ate, my stomach LOVED this treat!!  Lucky me!

The rest of the day found me in front of the TV with Cooper snuggled up alongside.  The Calgary Stampede ... the biggest rodeo in the world ... had their finals shown on the Cowboy Channel.  You could feel the tension right through the screen.

I admit in the old days, rodeoing was more drinking and partying than riding.  There were lots of times when the guys just couldn't sober up enough the next morning to ride.  Nowadays, it's become a sport of amazing pro athletes, most of whom thank God for their success.  Good looking athletes I might add!!

By 4:00 I was again contemplating vegetables (there's definitely something wrong here) when I spotted the Amazon driver delivering Jonathan's seed.  I opened the box on the kitchen counter and grabbed the first bag.  Ummm there's a hole in the top.  I pulled out the second bag when I felt something on my hand. OMG ... the box is FULL of ANTS!!!  What the heck?

Then I got bit not once, but three times.  I grabbed the box and threw it outside.  My counter was now covered with fire ants.  I was slapping and smashing trying to kill all of them before they hit the floor running.  This picture was twenty minutes later when I ventured back out into the 108 degree heat to see if any were left.  How does this happen?

I went straight to my phone and called Amazon.  They were not the least concerned about the bites I got, but they did say to keep the two bags for free, both of which have holes in them.  I'm not sure if the ants are in the bags or just in the box, but I'm not about to try and find out.  They are shipping two more bags.  Hopefully those three huge red, now swollen spots on my wrist will go away at some point.

With temperatures still in the OMG range, I chopped up some veggies for dinner.  I'm pretty sure this is a first.  I haven't had a veggie wrap in my LIFE!!  It did need something with a little flavor, so I whipped up some homemade teriyaki sauce for the dressing.  I'll probably have another one for dinner today.  This is just unheard of in my house!!

It's going to be another 108 degree day ... swimming pool weather.  Since there's no pool, maybe I'll just run through the sprinklers.  That reminds me, another weird thing happened, but I'll tell you about it tomorrow!!  Enjoy your day ... I'll be on the couch scratching my ant bites!

Not Just Muffins, But GOURMET!!

 Up and at 'em ... we're burning daylight!!  Those sounds ring through my head many mornings as I lay in bed deciding whether to move and scratch that itch on my arm.  You see mornings are the time when He who rules the roost likes to play ball the most.  Even the tiniest movement brings him bouncing over to me with lovely morning breath.  Come on Mom ... let's PLAY!!!

There's no going back when that happens.  No rest, certainly no sleep and no choice in the matter.  I'm UP Cooper ... I'm up!!  He makes a beeline for the ball, I head straight to the door to let him out.

Fifteen minutes later with coffee in hand, I'm sitting on the patio.  No the game doesn't stop, now I have to kick it with my feet.  That didn't last very long on this morning because it's a warm 80 degrees outside.  I gulped the coffee, changed clothes and we were OFF!!  

There's nothing Cooper likes more than going for a run (not me, but him) in the early morning.  It might be a leisurely stroll, but he kicks it into high gear, causing me to walk literally as fast as I can just to keep up.  There is the occasional stop to see who stopped by and what they ate for dinner last night, followed quickly by Cooper's territorial display, but for the most part, it's a marathon.

Quite by accident I spotted this native resident watching the parade of Cooper going by.  How Cooper missed him, I'll never know.  He must have had his nose to the mailbox post.  Kitty sat very still and just moved his head as we walked past.  Thankfully on this morning there was no screaming COOPER NO, as we never even let up on the gas.

You missed the Kitty Kitty Mr. Mr.  This was a forced picture stop, which made him none too happy.

It was a quick turnaround time and I was off to the grocery store for veggies.  I've pretty much given up on meat for the time being.  Yes, I even braved the doors of Food For Less ... NOT in Merced however.  It's dangerous enough to meet up with criminals in the grocery store, but even worse ... meeting up with the dreaded BLUEBERRY MUFFINS!!!

GOURMET blueberry muffins no less!!  Here's how my brain works.  Hmmm these are sweet and will make my sweet tooth happy.  In fact, they are less calories than that ice cream I've been eating.  Maybe I can swap them out.

You know that will never happen, since I'm addicted to ice cream.  They still came home with me.  I was back at the house by 8:30 am, mostly because I'm pretty sure the criminals don't get up until noon.  

I'm not sure what ingredients make it GOURMET, but after eating just half of one, I had the pleasure of a stomach ache extraordinaire!!  It appears there are some things in this world I just cannot eat.  THIS is one of them.  It sucks to get old!!  My visions of blueberry muffins on the patio went up in smoke.

This morning as I eyed them thinking how wonderful they would taste, I boxed them up for a trip to the neighbor's house.  Those two boys will love them!!

The only glitch of the day happened when my solar app came up with a big ZERO.  Don't panic Nancy.  I spent an hour going through the menus to find a quick check guide to see if the system was working.  Yup ... it's in the green.  

It seems however that it's not communicating.  No worries ... it will catch up.  I was anything but patient all day long as I watched the National Finals Rodeo Open where California beat out most every other circuit in the U.S.  How the heck does THAT happen??  California guys beat Texas cowboys?  

I'm happy to say the app is not only working this morning, but caught up on everything from yesterday.  With three days of 106 temps, I'm feeling like I live in a sauna.  You know those cool suits the race car drivers wear?  I think I need one!!!  Even Cooper and Jonathan are panting!!!

I know ... turn on the air.  It's just that I like to have something for the money I spend ... like food, or clothes that don't have holes in them, or maybe even a new phone.  To throw money at a company that doesn't provide good service or upgrade its distribution network and who charges you for their mistakes, just grates on my nerves like fingernails on a chalkboard.  

I'm off to run through the sprinklers outside to cool off.  In the BACK yard of course.  No use scaring the neighbors!!

It's Been A Little Intense Around Here

 As you can tell from past blogs, every morning now I sit on the patio and have a nice cup of hot coffee while trying to cool off.  I keep the thermostat at around 85 degrees, which is pretty warm, so I love soaking up all the cool I can get from outside.  Yes with solar that will hopefully change, but until I know the numbers, I'm hesitant to crank it up.  That's the accountant in me I guess.  I would hate to see an $800 bill as seems the case with my neighbors.

The one with the dog ... you've heard me complain ... told me she just signed a contract with PG&E to pay $400 a month for her much smaller house, with a year end true up.  YIKES!!!  That's almost $5,000 a year.

I did a lot of running around the garage to check the meter and fussing over the solar numbers.  Suddenly I got an email from the contractor saying PG&E had sent a contract I had to sign.  Hmmm no one said anything about a contract.  Come to find out, it's an authorization for Net Energy Metering.  That allows them to put in a new meter so they can track and "steal" the extra my system makes.  My little brain said "I'm plugging in absolutely everything I have and turning it on high so I use up every little kWh".  

To get me thinking about something else, I hit the sewing room with a vengeance.  Sixteen squares (107 pieces each) are now done.  But wait ..... there's eight more square like the one on the left.  Then there's sometime like 16 half squares and the 3" wide "ribbons" going between every square.  The PG&E stuff was less intense than this!!

Here's a closeup of the latest.  Those little red squares are 3/4" wide.  Please Lord, give me patience.  If I ever say I want to do something like this again, just whack me upside the head!!!  Yes ... each of these squares also has 117 pieces.  

By the time I finished ONE square, I was on a mission to find out exactly how many kWh I'm using and producing.  By the way, there were at least six places in that "agreement" that stated I was NOT allowed to have it turned ON until they set their meter!!!  I'm pleading ignorance!!  "I have no idea what you are talking about".  Can you tell my hair magically turned blond??  Better yet, I'll dig out an old dress and a cane!!

I figured out my average usage in the summer is 36-50 kWh a day without the AC units running much at all.  My system is putting out 42-45 every day.  It appears I will be able to crank up the cool during the summer, paying for it with the energy I gain in the spring and fall.  That is if I'm not in jail for running the system before the energy police show up.

I did have one big WIN this week.  I think I mentioned Costco.  Since my glasses broke and believe it or not EIGHT optometry offices closed during covid, I couldn't get an appointment anywhere to get new glasses.  My prescription is two years old and they refuse to fill it.  Just a way to force you to get new glasses ($$$$$) more often I suppose.

I called Costco as a last resort.  The sweetest girl answered the phone and said their appointments were four months out.  BUT ... I can call in every day to see about cancellations, which I did.  After two weeks, she actually called me back with a day and time.  

The eye exam (no dilation) was $70 ... cheap at twice the price around here.  I'm terrible at picking glasses, so the nice girl in that department spent a few minutes with me before I sat down for all the measurements.  That's funny ... that last place I went to didn't measure anything, which is why I can't wear THOSE glasses at all!!

The final outcome?  I got not one, but TWO pair of new glasses AND the exam, for $100 less than I've paid for just one pair of glasses at my old eye doctor.  If you need glasses cheap and you're not near the border ... go to Costco!!  Hopefully I will pick them up on Monday!!  

I spent a couple hours on the couch with the snuggle bunny.  It was a hard day playing ball.  Honestly, it's what keeps me in some kind of good shape, getting down on the floor and back up.  My own little strength trainer!!

I'm heading out for my morning 2 mile walk while it's still cool.  That helps relieve the tension caused by the thought of being in  Jail for the next six months for stealing electricity!!

The Good And The Bad!!

Good Morning World!!!  Sounds cheery, right?  Not so much in real life.  There was a marathon Elks meeting last night that went on forever!!  There's craziness in the world and it effects the Elks Lodge just as much as it does everyone else.

I mean seriously, why in the world would the City send out a petition to every business asking them to AGREE to a property tax increase of well over $3,000 a year just to provide you with "aesthetic" changes and "general marketing" when you are almost entirely OUT of the "zone"?  Guess what ... we voted a resounding NO, as I'm sure every other business did likewise.  It makes you wonder!!

That late night is going to make it a two-cup morning as I take in a big whiff of onion processing (I do love THAT smell) and make sure there are no tuxedo wearing critters back in the yard.  I've already gotten a couple of calls about how to get rid of them!!

The question has come up about PG&E, whether they get any extra electricity my panels produce.  I am hooked up to the power system and boy do I love watching that meter run backwards!!  One minutes it says 840 kwh and the next it says 827.   

At this point there is no possibility there will be any extra.  I'm pretty sure I'm using way too much with my AC's set to 80 degrees.  Until they hook up their meter, they don't know how much I'm creating.  The "extra" comes into account when I'm not using much power and the system is producing a lot, like in the spring and fall.  That amount is banked and I draw from it during the summer months.  If there is any leftover at the end of the year, it goes directly to PG&E and I am NOT paid for it (which is why they don't care how many panels you put up).  

It's a numbers game, right up my alley.  If I use MORE than what I produce over a year, they send me a true-up bill in December for the balance.  It seems every state is different, such as Arizona not allowing more panels than what's needed to equal what you used during the last year.  If you overproduce, they DO pay you for the extra.

So much more than I ever cared to know!!!  With the next five days predicted to be 105+, I'm definitely glad I was able to get it done now.

I spent a good part of the day cleaning up my local residents leftover dinners.  From the looks of my entry way, there must be a million baby spiders filling their tummies with gnats.  It's always fun to pick them out of your hair for two hours after sweeping the carcasses away!!

And just like THAT .... another problem reared its ugly head.  My alarm panel began to beep at me.  For every euphoric UP, there must be a down!  In the past it's been a bad backup battery.  I replaced it a few days ago, only to have the yellow light and beeping continue. 

This time I spent 30 minutes pushing buttons going through every programming section I could find, to finally discover there was a COMMUNICATIONS issue.  Uh oh ... that's the reason for the system ... to notify the monitoring service.

When I called them and asked for a tech, I finally got one who said he needed to run a test.  You know what that means ... screaming alarms going off in the neighborhood.  Okay ... if I have to.  I set it off and OH MAN ..... the noise was epic.

Instantly I got a call from my neighbor.  Boy did that make me feel good!!  But I couldn't answer it because I was on the phone with the alarm company.  I ran outside in my flimsy spaghetti strap house dress to see the neighbor's husband coming across the lawn.  How embarrassing!!  I told him everything was okay ... it was just a test.

So here's the deal ... the alarm company got no message of an alarm at all.  That's a nice feeling, eh?  Apparently my system is from the days of 3G phone towers.  Those have now been taken down and replaced with 4G so my system doesn't work, other than make a lot of noise.

The choice is simple ... sign a 3-year contract and get it done for free or pay $150 for the upgrade.  I haven't decided yet which I'll do, but they are coming Monday to provide a new updated panel.  Fort Knox will soon be back to normal.  In the meantime, I better not have a fire when I'm not home.

Dinner was quick and tasty.  Air fried thick pork chops, done in 14 minutes.  Boy do I love that fryer.

There's much more stuff to report on, but in the interest of not boring everyone senseless, that's it for today.  I'll recoup a little this morning from the late night before meeting up with the contractor one last time.  No worries, I have him on speed dial.  

How Do I know That?

 It's not often you sit in a chair on your lawn and admire your roof while kicking the ball for Cooper and sipping on a nice hot cup of liquid gold while air conditioning cools the house down.  It's a first in my lifetime!!

Before we go there however, let's go to the Magic Kingdom ... that place where all hopes and dreams of screaming BINGO and becoming a millionaire are dashed to bits.  Let's face it ... if you are raiding your kids piggy bank, you are NOT going to succeed in this endeavor.

It was crack-open-the-kids-college-fund this night.  How do I know that?  Because I was inundated with change.  There's not much I hate worse than having to count filthy sticky nickels and pennies (it's disgusting) because they never give me the correct amount.  

There are always those frantic attempts to win by withdrawing the last of their social security or welfare checks, or maybe the last $5.00 on that EBT card they should be using to buy food.  No credit cards are allowed, mostly because the bank charges us a chunk.  Any other card with a PIN number will work.

So on this night as I was trying to pare down the long line of attendees, this one lady came up and paid for her $48 worth of cards.  My question is always "do you want it for the amount or do you want cash back"?  Reason being, if they get cash back, they always spend it in the other room on Pull Tabs.  Remember, every dime we make goes to charity.  These are tickets with little tabs you pull off to win money.  Once in a blue moon, you can win $250.  Mostly it's 50 cents to $5.  The cards cost anywhere from 25 cents to $1.00 each.  

No she said, no cash.  Fifteen minutes later she came back through the line wanting $40 cash.  No problem ... we are your local bank ... as she headed to the pull tab counter.  Thirty minutes later she came storming back, barged in front of everyone in line and yelled GIVE ME $40!!!  I would be happy to, but these people are in line ahead of you.  

Well as you can imagine, that went over like a ton of bricks.  The pitchfork came out along with a machete as she ranted and screamed at me.  She was one unhappy camper.  I don't think I've ever seen such ugly looks on a human before.  Crikey ... those Bingo fanatics can get cranky!!

The King came over and calmed her down as he escorted her to the back of the line.  I almost told her if she just used that nice word "please", she might have gotten further, but I kept my mouth shut.  

That being two late nights and two really early mornings, I was pretty beat when the contractor showed up to install the bird wire around the panels.  The guy behind me with something like 45 panels now has an entire breeding facility for pigeons on his roof.  I'm not kidding, they flock around the neighborhood all the time.  

In order to keep them off my roof and out from under my panels, I asked for this bird wire to be installed.  It was kind of tough to do since my roof is rather steep, but they got most of it done when they ran out of wire.  As they were leaving for the day, I heard a knock at the door.

In an even more amazing moment, there stood the contractor and the Building Inspector.  Inspections around here take weeks to obtain.  How do I know that?  Because in one of my previous lives, I worked at the Building Division here for ten years.  It could not have been a better place to work, surrounded by eight men all day long, not to mention good looking contractors.  That brought about an hour's conversation with the contractor about who is there now and how terrible they are!!

In the days of the dinosaurs, you had to have been a contractor to be a building inspector.  At about the end of my "term", they hired a book inspector who was NEVER a contractor and had no idea about anything except what he read.  There is no book that can rival experience.  But that's another story.

My system passed with flying colors and SHE (yup a lady inspector) just looked at the box above and counted the panels.  She didn't even turn it OFF which I had been warned might happen.  

I made a beeline for the thermostat.  Not wanting to overdo it before I had the real numbers, I downloaded the app for my phone.  Everything you ever wanted to know about what these panels are doing is now at my fingertips.  

Another cool thing ... if anything goes wrong at any time, a notification is sent not only to me but the contractor.  Is that service or what???  Here's a snapshot of the panels and what they were doing late in the day.  By sundown, they all went to zero and I shut down that wonderful, cooling, amazing feeling air conditioning.  

PG&E has not updated my info ... they are always two days behind.  I'm curious to see what their usage says.  It's just such an amazing feeling to know I don't have to pay them much any more.  I think my charge is now $12 a month.  WOOHOO!!!!!

Cheers to solar!!!

The Planets Are Aligned!

 I didn't get my usual time on the patio yesterday, but I was there sipping my coffee long enough to realize what Elva said was correct.  The planets aligned perfectly for me as the cool morning air was sucked into the house by my AC fans.  No AC ... just the fans trying to cool off the 85 degree house.  I had high hopes for the day, and just like in a fairy tale (except RATS, there was no frog to kiss), it had a happy ending.

The wiring work began at 6:00 am.  I had no idea just how much went into that part of the installation.  It required this poor kid crawling up into the attic of the garage to make all the connections, running everything out the side underneath the eave.  There's hardly anything showing on the outside.  What a neat and clean installation.

Although I wanted to stand outside and ask a million questions, I bit my tongue and stayed inside with Cooper as long as I possibly could.  Working on one more square of that quilt kept me out from under foot.  It was also interesting to note there were no breaks, no phone calls and very little talking when I did sneak out for a peek.  It was nose to the grindstone for this crew!!  I can't tell you how much I appreciate that!

At 2:00 I finally "officially" ventured outside to see how it was going.  All done they said, just doing cleanup.  Here's the panel they installed which I think I can connect to with my phone.  I haven't asked that question yet.  

They told me the system was up and running, providing free energy to run my air conditioners!  I'll ask more questions today, but he also said the unit will update itself automatically from now on.  I went inside and turned on the cool AC.  OMG ... you cannot imagine how nice it was to finally be a little cool while outside it was 103.  

Yes, it's completely hooked up they said, but if I'm making more than I'm using, I won't get any credit until PG&E comes to set up their new meter.  I seriously doubt if any credits would appear anyway.  Not that I'm going to be overactive in the AC and lights department.  HEY ... I can turn lights on now!!!  I'm like a kid in a candy store!!!

To make the day even better, just look here!!  My Prince Charming turned out to be wearing Levis and a ball cap!  They were doing some cutting with what else .... an angle grinder .... when I asked if the contractor had mentioned anything about my post.  He said no, so I showed him where it was, not 30 feet away.  

Five minutes later, the post was GONE!!  It's the planets I tell you!!!  I handed him $20 for beer which he immediately put it in his pocket.  I don't care who gets the beer ... the infamous post is gone!!!  Now I can hunt up someone with a tractor and disc for the corrals.

Unfortunately, the planets didn't align enough to cancel bingo, so 30 minutes after they left, I was out the door.  It was a usual peasant uprising night, followed by indigestion.  What could be better?  I'll relay that story tomorrow, along with the latest info on Costco.  

A toast to air conditioning!  YAHOO!!!

You Love Them Or You Hate Them

 Whooowie it's been a scorcher here in the Central Valley.  We're not used to this kind of heat.  106 is just not in my vocabulary!!  The morning patio coffee was cut short pretty quickly when the contractor showed up.  You know contractors .... you either love them or you hate them.  He had already acquired the building permit and was ready to hit the road running.

This is a young kid with a really good reputation (not to mention he's an Elk), which is why he was able to get the permit so quickly.  I really didn't want to bother him too many questions since he was a little short handed on this day.  That didn't keep him from getting up on the roof immediately and setting the rails that hold the panels.  I think I'm leaning toward the love side.

I kidded him about cleaning out my drains while he was up there, and to my surprise, he said he would be happy to.  Wow ... that's nice!  In the back of my mind I'm thinking ... I wonder if he has an angle grinder?

Then I remembered one of the most important questions ... could he put bird wire around the outside of the sections.  We have an F-Troop of pigeons that nest under the back neighbors solar panels, making for about 100 new babies every year.  Just what we need ... flying rats.  Truly, they are such dirty birds, and not in a funny way.  Again he answered ... Of course!!!  Yup I'm falling hard!

Gosh ... did I get lucky or what?  In no time they had the panels up, including one other side roof.  The second crew that does the actual wiring even showed up and spent an hour or so before the temps got up to 104 when they called it a day.  They are using a SolarEdge inverter and are putting optimizers on the panels.  As for the exact brand of panels, I'll have to ask.  I did speak to several of his customers who said they are more than happy with their setup.

As they were putting tools away, I finally got up enough nerve to say "you don't happen to have an angle grinder in your truck, do you"?  Yes I do he said ... what do you need?  See that post?  Can you cut it off?  YES was the answer.  Yup .. I'm definitely in love with this contractor.  I'll pay you cash.  Oh ... just enough for a couple of beers he said, but it's too hot today.  We'll do it tomorrow morning.  Hallelujah!!!!

I'm sure he's just being nice because I probably remind him of his grandmother ... but that's okay!!  I'll give them enough for TWO cases of beer!!

I had a quick run to town which I'll tell you about tomorrow, because they are coming back even earlier this morning to finish up the job.  Then I'll be waiting on PG&E to do the hookup.  No telling how long THAT will take!! 

On the way home I stopped in at Panda Express.  That orange chicken gets me every time.  $12.00 for this plate (it used to be $10) but it will last three meals.

My tip of the day ... never EVER go to Costco on Monday at 3:00.  I think everyone goes there for the air conditioning!!  I have never EVER seen it that busy.

Who Would Have Ever Thought???

 Who would have ever thought I would get this old this fast.  I mean I'm seriously an antique, even though I feel like a 21 year old.  Sitting on the patio with my morning cup of joe, I was remembering things like my 21st birthday when I was sitting in the middle of the street in Denver Colorado with a beer.  I hate beer.  

Out of the blue, having been rebuffed by my boyfriend of the month, my gal pal and I drove off in my 1967 GTO to Colorado ... in the winter ... without a clue.  You do dumb stuff when you're young.  We got snowed in in Laramie Wyoming.  

It was okay ... we weren't alone.  We had all the State's basketball teams surrounding us during their big tournament.  We "fixed" our driver's licenses with eyeliner and hit every bar in town.  The next morning my car wouldn't start.  Frozen solid.  After a couple of calls we got a tow truck to come by and spray something in the carburetor.  It took three seconds and cost me $50.  On to Denver we went.  

I got a job within three days at Jean Paddie's Secretarial Service, a business that hired young girls in short skirts.  We serviced (no not THAT kind of service) six of the businesses in the complex, doing anything and everything the offices required.  My job consisted of answering the phones and typing legal contracts.  

It was pretty boring, except on weekends when my roommate and I would go to the bars looking for the millionaire we were going to marry.  Bev was an amazing pool player.  To earn a few extra bucks, we would scam the guys.  Yessirree ... a couple of real of hustlers!!  We would play terribly, lose a $10.00 game or two, then take them for $20 as Bev ran the table.  How good were we?  We owned our own pool cues and it paid the $300 monthly rent.  

So it's hard to imagine we're both this old, as demonstrated by the anodized aluminum glassware which is now considered antique.  We didn't have the pitcher on the ranch, but we did have more than a dozen glasses, probably worth $1,000 nowadays.  Who would have ever thought?

On to my day, I thought maybe Foxy had left the country after all those fireworks going off, but he's still hanging around.  He looks a little worse for wear.  That nose however is working really well.  He must have smelled me on the camera, because he came over for his closeup.  

Having completed the other quilt top, I'm back to this one.  This really does make me feel old.  It's going really slow.  You cannot imagine the amount of lint that comes off fabric when you sew.  It completely fills the area below the foot.  You can pay $200 to get it cleaned.  Who would have thought it would be that expensive?  

SO ... Nancy just does it herself.  I took it all apart and carefully cleaned up a ridiculous amount of fluff.  Then it was time to put it back together.  It seemed easy enough, but when I began to sew again, it made the most awful gear grinding noise you can imagine.  I freaked out.  This is a once-in-a-lifetime machine and I just broke it?  NOOOOOOOOO .....

I took it apart again and replaced everything very carefully.  I sewed one little stitch at a time.  Thank the Good Lord it worked just fine!  Wow .... that was scary!!!!!  I probably won't do that again!!

It's slow going this quilt.  I figured out I'm sewing 798 pieces together to get the 192 pieces of this little rectangle for the 16 squares.  That doesn't even count all the other pieces that make up the square.  I already told the store manager NOT to let me do this again!!!!

I've only two squares to go for the main section ... but then there's the outside squares and the rows between the squares still to go.  Who would have ever thought this would be so complicated?

My surprise for today ... my coup de gras ... SOLAR IS GOING IN!!!  Who would have ever thought I would end up kicking and screaming into the "new" age.  I think it had something to do with the temperatures this next week.  I'm tired of scrimping and saving and roasting like my morning toast.  It's time to go completely against the grain and SPEND THAT MONEY!!!  After all, who would have ever thought I would live THIS long!!!  I might as well enjoy it while I'm still breathing.

Tearing It Up!!!

On a not so cool morning, I sat on the patio listening to the sounds of the night.  It was the countryside waking up.  There were a few chirps from birds, but not many.  The orchards around here provide much better roosting branches than the back of my patio chairs, although that does seem to be a favorite spot, evidenced by the multitude of bird poop on the patio.  I can't blame them, at least they are in the shade.

I have a new friend that comes every morning to say hello.  It's a nice fat lizard that I hope is cleaning up on the ant buffet.  He doesn't stay long, as Cooper refuses to let any house guests stay long in HIS domain.

All the while, I was gearing up.  I identify with those house remodeling guys on TV that thrive on the demo part of the work.  It's somehow satisfying to see something you don't want, GONE from the scene.  Take this fence for example.  If you don't think these vinyl fences are tough, I can attest to their tenacity!  This six foot section and that center post are what need to be removed.  I began tearing it up!!!

Though the rails look easy enough to remove as they slide back and forth, they are designed to stay forever.  The design is a good one.  I've been trying to get these out for the last year.  They have two clips on one side and one on the other that keep them from being removed.  Easy to stick IN to the hole, they do not come out without three screwdrivers and two big men to bend the board.

I finally used the handy dandy hacksaw to cut one end off.  It was then easy-ER to get the two prongs out while pushing the rail sideways until it broke loose.  I'm sure there was a better way that might have saved the "boards", but what will I ever use them for?  

EUREKA!!  SUCCESS!!  There's a gate on the right that I just tied open.  No use throwing that away.  All this led me to a great discovery.  Using a flashlight, I looked inside the post ... and what to my amazement did I see?  NOT a T-post but a steel U post from bottom to top.  UGH ... this is going to be a lot harder than I thought.  
 

By this time, the heat had arrived and I was done with the tearing.  Destruction only goes so far.  I'll be going down my contractor phone list, begging for assistance.

On a completely different subject, here's one of the best things I've ever purchased.  It's a cheap Hamilton Beach single serve blender.  Or it could be a double serve Margarita blender!  

Once a year on the ranch we were blessed with the best treat ever.  We had a cow-calf operation which brought about babies every year.  When they grow up and learn how to skinny through the fences to the neighbors property (because the grass is always greener), you need something to identify them as yours.  Branding was a yearly event.  It bothers me now, but back then everyone had a job to do.

Occasionally I roped the calves, but I admit, I wasn't very good at it as a little kid of six or seven.  That meant my job was to throw my rope to the ground crew to secure the calf's hind legs.  I took a dally and waited until they were done.  My second and most important job was to make the pink lemonade and serve it up to our most grateful crew of neighbors.  You can imagine working cattle in the heat and dust wasn't the nicest of jobs.  

So here it is ..... my version of STRAWBERRY pink lemonade whipped up with ice cubes in my handy dandy blender.  In the old days we served it in those beautifully colored metal (unbreakable) glasses.  It was pretty cool because everyone knew which color was theirs.  It gave us just enough energy to finish the job for the day.  Where was my mom all that time?  She was the chief cook and bottle washer.  

While we worked, she roasted a huge chunk of meat, along with mashed potatoes, gravy and something from the garden.  No one went away hungry, except us the next day or two because we really couldn't afford that kind of feast.  Oh the memories of pink lemonade.

With the fence post on the back burner, I set up for the second day of the Calgary Stampede.  This is not a sport for sissies.  There are three guys out already, for a broken leg and pulled muscles.  This competition is all about the money, so they ride regardless, except for the leg of course.  It's also the grand event for stock contractors, who put forth their best and meanest bucking stock.  I've seen lots of horses buck in my life, but these guys are flying higher than I have ever seen.

I finally finished up this quilt top and cut the backing.  It's all ready for a trip to Arizona for quilting.  I think this makes six now ready for the needle.

Temperatures have been creeping back up, along with my thermostat control.  I just received an email from PG&E letting me know my bill is now up to $350.  EEERRRRRRRK!!  That's me putting the kibosh on air conditioning for the next week.  I must say it's been nice at 80 degrees, but I hate digging into my savings accounts to pay for electricity.  It's not "how low can you go" around here any more.  It's "you'll be fine, just drink another bottle of water"!