Sprinklers ... I DESPISE THEM!!

 I love Texas.  What cowgirl wouldn't?  On the other hand, I don't think I could ever live there.  April, May and June is tornado time, when storms come through and devastate the state.  July, August and September is hurricane season, when storms come through and devastate the coastline.  There's one hitting the coast right now.  Say a little prayer for Texas on this morning.  I think I can live with the heat here just fine.

Sprinklers ... the bane of my existence.  There must be a gremlin that goes around at night messing with them just for fun.  No matter how hard I try, I cannot seem to get the entire lawn green at one time.  I just put in a new sprinkler for the BROWN at the top left of this picture.  Now all of a sudden I've got THIS!

The sprinkler is in the flowerbed, so I can't blame the Gardener, though the top has disappeared off this one too.  I must say, there's nothing as refreshing as trying to fix THIS one when the one next door slaps you in the face with enough water to soak your hair and shirt.  How can that be?  That much water and it's STILL brown!!  

I messed with this thing for ten minutes, getting hit in the face, until I THINK I got it fixed.  At least it was cool, but a dip in a swimming pool would have been better!!  We will see if it worked.

I didn't even know this one existed.  It was completely overgrown with grass and NOT working.  I'm guessing gophers are the reason most, if not all, of my sprinklers are sinking into the sand.  It was 102 at 8:30 when I began digging this one out.  I added an extension to bring it up higher, but may have overdone it.  I'm guessing this will get eaten by the lawnmower, so a stake of some kind is in order.  

I spent the next two hours paying bills.  Seems like a lot of time for so few, but when your computer is old and tired, you have to be patient.  Plus, it seems they like to almost HIDE the due date.  California DMV send it out two months in advance so you will pay it early.  Sorry Charlie ... not happening.  On the other hand, my Verizon internet account sends theirs out ten days before it's due, sometimes making me late.

Cooper and I spent most of the day on the couch watching Cowboy Christmas with some of the craziest bucking horses and bulls I've ever seen.  How those 2,000 pound bulls can do that is beyond me!  I worked on sewing the binding on this quilt until it was finished.  Done at last!!!

AND ... I have company coming to the hotel for one night.  This is what I think I look like after washing and drying the sheets.  Just fling them out there (like on TV) and VOILA the bed is made.  

This is what it looks like when I'm done.  It's a King size ... and hard to FLING over.  It's also in the hottest room in the house.  Maybe she won't notice!!!

Today I have to chase down a jug of DEF.  I picked up a 2.5 gallon container, but quickly found I have no room to carry it in the rig.  I'm on the hunt for the smaller one.  I suppose I could just wait until I run out, but my stress level won't allow for that, especially since I have no idea at this point how much it will use.  

Then I'm off computer hunting ... for that elusive creature that will run all of my photographic software and not cost two arms and a leg.  It will be hard to type with my nose!!

Work Work Work .......

 HOOWEEEE it was another HOT HOT day.  I just keep thinking about my electric bill as my air conditioners hum along.  I'm pretty sure there's going to be a true-up in my future ... and it will be this month.  You can tell I'm looking forward to THAT!

I deposited myself on the patio for a time in the early morning, the better to check out my sprinklers.  Sure enough I found two not working at all.  No wonder there are such big brown spots.  It went on my Honey-Do list.

But first, while it was only 90 degrees, I did some work on the RV.  I think I figured out the AC.  I turned it on and messed with the controls until I understood what the little red and blue circles meant.  This is not your normal thermostat.    My plan was to leave it running for a couple of hours and see how it goes.

In the meantime, Renate gave me this curtain to use as a privacy screen.  Really, since I'm using the front windshield screen, I don't need it.  On the other hand, I had read where it actually provides just a little more separation from the hot front area.  I decided to put it up.  By golly, it helped ... but that leaves Jonathan in the passenger seat in the heat.  Down it came.

Next I went to work on the Reflectix.  This stuff is awesome.  I've been using it my entire RV life.  If you buy the REAL stuff and not the "looks like" kind, it works really well at keeping the heat and cold OUT.  I reused several pieces from the other RV and recut them to fit.  

I did discover one other small problem.  See that black thing on the counter?  That's the induction cooktop.  If you even barely brush your arm, or anything else across the top, it turns on.  I know nothing about these, but I assume (and you know what happens if you do that) they don't get hot unless you have a special pan on top?  I freak out every time it turns on.  It also seems to work on temperature, not low, medium, high.  Something else to learn.

I also discovered that the pull down shades have magnets that keep them from flopping back and forth.  Nice touch!!  Every window is now covered, so I headed inside the house, leaving the AC running.

My plan was to head out for a new computer, since I'm now getting several messages every day that my programs are too outdated.  That means I won't be able to use them much longer at all.  That's not good when it's your banking and internet apps.  

Instead, I decided to get this quilted so I had time to hand stitch the binding before Tuesday.  The pattern I just paid for would not work.  It just would not size correctly, so I went with my favorite bubbles.  Everything was going along just great until I walked to the end of the machine to grab my phone.  

My tip of the day is ALWAYS walk around.  I accidentally hit the machine with my arm ... hardly a bump ... and it made the most awful squiggle right in the middle.  Big sigh!!!  Ok Nancy ... think ... how can you fix this.  I let it finish out the row, then went back and removed the stitching before giving it a new start spot.  You could have heard me across the street when it stitched it perfectly ... well almost perfectly.  I don't think anyone can tell but me.  I had to completely reset everything for the last row, but it's done.

I no more sat down than this arrived at my door.  It's supposed to be a "smaller" collapsible crate for Cooper in case it's too hot where I'm going ... so he can be inside a cool house instead of a hot RV.  It took a bit for me to get it set up.  Cooper was not impressed.  

When he was a puppy, he had to live in a cage while I was at work.  He hated it, and he hates it still.  In two seconds he was madly scratching and crying to get out.  It made me feel awful, but it's for the best.  Now let's fold it back up.

Good grief ... I was almost in tears after 30 minutes and I STILL could not get it right.  I blame it on the heat.  This is the only picture I had to go by.  At long last I GOT IT.  Oh the relief!!  So I took this picture which will remain in my camera for the next time I have to fold it up.  

What about the AC in the rig you ask?  Well here's what I found out.  It only screams like a Diesel truck pulling a trailer load of horses uphill when you first turn it on.  I went out an hour later when it was 100 degrees outside and it was a lovely 85 inside.  Yes the AC still make a LOT of noise.   There won't be any sleeping with it on three feet over my head ... but it's much more doable for inside during the hot part of the day.  Maybe it was the AC, maybe it was the reflectix ... but it's better.  My plan is to never go anywhere except the ocean when it's hot.

By now I was pretty tired of work work work ... fixing this, fixing that ... when I heard a commotion next door.  Well looky here who came to visit.  There must be a gazillion of these guys roaming around.  I see them everywhere now, but was very surprised to find one here.  I watched a video yesterday of one trying to cross a river.  It couldn't get out the other side (too steep) and it couldn't back up the side it just came from.  I guess they weren't made for off-roading.  

And so ended another hot as Hades day in central California.  This did used to be a desert after all, and now that they have removed so much agriculture land for housing and asphalt, it's expected.

What about the sprinklers you ask?  Ummmm yeah ... I'll try to get those fixed this morning.

Have Some Watermelon Tea

In case you were not regaled enough on the Fourth of July ... here's only one of the thousands that exploded one house down.  TURN UP THE VOLUME. 

I do think Elva was right ... even as bad as it was, it could have been worse.  She was thinking no one really had any spare money to blow this year, and that's why this didn't last all night long.

I was up extra early, waiting for the tree guy to arrive.  He had previously said he should spray before it got to be 85 degrees and when there was no wind.  When he called and asked how the wind was, I did the Farmer Thing.  I went outside, grabbed a pinch of grass and threw it up in the air.  It fell straight down.  No wind I reported.

He arrived right on time and began to spray ... for ten seconds ... because nothing was coming out of the nozzle.  Uh oh ... 

Just my luck, the pump wouldn't work.  An hour later he was still working on it when I went outside and asked if he wanted to reschedule.  I GOT IT he proclaimed.  Let the spraying begin!

By now it was 90 degrees and the wind was coming up.  It looked like enough stuff got on the trees and none (or at least very little) on the cars next door.  Yes, I did ask them to move them, just in case.

As he was wrapping up, we talked a bit.  Turns out he's an old cow hand, raises cow dogs and a few cattle just for fun.  At least he didn't dump all his chemicals on the lawn like the other company did!

So for the next hour, I tested out the AC in the rig.  It's huge and it's LOUD, as in 85 decibels LOUD.  It did blow cold air, but it never shut off.  It's set on auto, so it should shut down when it finally gets to temperature.  Figuring out how to work the thing is another case of trial and error.  Absolutely everything is controlled by the touchscreen on the wall.  I'm still figuring all that out.  It's hard to think when it's so darn hot!!

Time for a little refreshment.  I ran over to Wally World, mostly because I had Amazon packages to return, and stopped in for a small cutting board.  I got completely distracted ... SQUIRREL ... by this!  I used to drink Arizona tea way back in the day.  I tried my hardest to walk away, but WATERMELON??  I had to try it.

And then I failed completely ... not only fell off the diet wagon, but was dragged in the cactus for a mile.  I love these little treats.  And LITTLE they now are.  Anyone notice how much smaller they are than one year ago?  No kidding ... this is a DRUMSTICK from the smallest chicken I've ever seen.  Even the CONE is smaller, despite its higher price.  How very sad ... but boy did it taste YUMMY!!!!

Walmart being what they are now ... Checker-less ... has recently come to my attention as being one who must be losing a LOT of money.  I watched the guy in front of me use the little gun thingy to charge up his entire basket FULL of items (never removing any from the basket) ... as the Blue Vest guy watched too.  He missed at least SIX big ticket items by moving things around in the cart, paid and walked right out the door.  

I rang my stuff up, having to use the thingy myself to ring up the case of water.  It rang up twice.  Of course I had to call the girl over, who quickly deleted one.  You rang it up TWICE she said, not too happy that she had to be bothered.  

I got home and checked my receipt.  She deleted BOTH ... and so I got a free case of water.  Am I taking it back?  That would be a NO, mostly because of her attitude.  So can you imagine just how much stuff goes out the door without being paid for??  They could probably hire six part time checkers for what they are losing.  Yup I feel guilty ..... but I'm sure no one else does.

Lunch turned out to be so much more than I expected.  This is Hello Fresh gazpacho.  I am definitely NOT into cold soup, but the shrimp caught my eye.  Here's the should-look-like picture.

This was a cinch to prepare.  Tomatoes, cucumbers, a green pepper (hot if you don't take the seeds out), a slice of bread (??), a tad bit of sherry vinegar and some vegetable stock.  You KILL it all in a food processor.  Fry up the little shrimp and let it all sit in the fridge for about two hours.

WOW ... I could have eaten the entire thing in one sitting all by myself.  It was so perfect to have this cold, very thick, delicious lunch on such a hot day.  There was so much, it lasted for FOUR meals.  I'm definitely making THIS again!!

It's Cowboy Christmas, so Mr. Cooper and I spent the evening on the couch.  Cowboy Christmas is the week surrounding the Fourth of July when many of the rodeos with the biggest payouts are held.  The boys drive crazy miles and hours, many even flying, from rodeo to rodeo to try and make the most money, which will qualify them for the National Finals Rodeo.  It's crazy.  Some of them may ride as many as 30 broncs in a week.  

We are already up to 83 degrees this morning and the sun just came up.  You will find me sitting on the patio sipping my sweet Arizona tea ......... though I should probably get packing instead, while it's still under 100 degrees!!

It's A Convection Oven

Good Morning California!!  I know you are all still awake, having been serenaded by fireworks until 1:00 am.  I expected it ... but I did NOT expect them to sound like grenades hitting my back lawn.  There's no such thing as "normal" fireworks around here ... they are all the BIG ONES that rattle the windows!  

It was nice that at 10:00 a helicopter flew over and around, causing everyone to stop setting off the flash bombs.  No kidding ... it's gotten completely out of control.  Thankfully they ended just after midnight, or at least they ran out of the noisy ones and I was able to fall asleep.

Have you ever wondered what it's like to be a cookie in a convection oven?  Me either ... but I definitely got a good idea of what it feels like yesterday.  I think we are beating all our heat records.  It was 106 in the nice cool shade of my patio, all afternoon long.  OH MAMMA it was HOT!!!

As you can see, my lawn doesn't fair any better than I do.  Two days without water and it's dying on the vine ... like me.  I like COLD ... and this just isn't it!!

I made one trip out to the van to put up the way-too-heavy windshield sunscreen.  I must have eaten my Cheerios because it wasn't near as heavy as the last time I tried it.  That was easy to figure out.  Add to it the weight of both side screens and it's not manageable.  Keep them all separate and it's not bad at all.  They will live behind the drivers seat.  That was it ... that's the only time I ventured out except to carry Cooper to the grass.

I'm a "cold" gal.  I just cannot take the heat any more.  Thoughts and dreams of fog and rain came and went all day.  So maybe I'll pretend I'm a Chef and just cook.

Here we are with that lovely chicken pot pie I picked up on the cheap at Walmart.  I think these used to be $2.00 each.  They now run $5.00 ... for the exact same thing.  It makes you wonder if their costs went up or they are just making a huge profit.  

I started out with the last of the awful Healthy Choice meals, but it quickly went flying into the trash can.  The sad part was it took an HOUR to cook this baby.  Isn't she pretty?

I have to admit, there's not much better than Marie Callender pot pies.  I've loved them since I was a kid.  I was a little surprised to see this one had broccoli.  I don't remember that .........

A recheck of the box confirmed this is PARMESAN chicken pot pie.  It was gone in a flash.  It's not so much the contents ... it's that yummy crust!!!!  The Chef got an A+ this day.

Throughout the day, I cringed every time the AC came on.  Even with my solar, using any electricity after 4:00 pm is charged at twice the normal rate.  No kidding ... PGE isn't going to let you get away with not forking out your share to pay for their mistakes.  It was so hot out that I carried Mr. Cooper to and from the grass so as not to burn his little feeties on the 30 feet of concrete.  This is NOT fun!!

I tried a little sewing after putting a table fan in the room and turning on the overhead fan.  Sadly, it's the hottest room in the house.  The receiver of this quilt decided she wanted the surfer material backing, which I thought would be awful.  I was wrong.  It actually matches quite nicely.  If she's happy, I'm happy.  If I'm not in full blown heat stroke today, I will get it quilted.

Dinner was fabulous.  This is not it.  This is from two days ago.  Mexican meatloaf with cumin rice.  

(Ahhhhh my AC just came on ... at 5:14 am.  It's set at 82 degrees.  That pretty much tells you how hot it is!)  

Back to the meatloaf ... instead of making TWO, I made FOUR.  Portion control, yes?  It's interesting to me that I have come to learn how to make rice taste good.  All I did for this recipe was put 1/2 teaspoon of cumin in the pot before boiling.  What a difference in the flavor!!  Ginger does the same thing.  I think I'm on to something here.

So here we are ... without the lights and color enhancements.  It was okay ... I loved the rice ... but not something I would probably have again.  That's because the recipe went in the trash can.

 And so here we are at the end of the day, still roasting in my home oven while trying to finish up this small quilt.  At long last, the final stitch was made and it is done.  This one will ride in the van I think.

I've been contemplating all day about the heat and this trip I have planned.  I may have to postpone it for a few weeks.  We are now looking at 107-108 every day for the next week, with my destination over 100.  If it was just me, no problemo.  With an older puppy and a geriatric parrot, it may not be a good idea to travel.  I have three more days to decide.

In the meantime, still taking care of landscape business ... a guy is coming today to spray the sycamore trees, to clean up the powdery mildew that covers every single leaf.  CPR is required.  Hopefully they survive, though if they don't, I won't have to rake up a million leaves every fall!!  And maybe, just MAYBE, I won't be quite so allergic.  We will see how it goes!!

RED WHITE AND BLUE

 HAPPY HAPPY Fourth of July!!!  Time to celebrate the Red White and Blue!!  Another month just sailed by like a ghost ship.  I guess that's what happens when you are otherwise occupied.  We had a lovely overnight low of 81 degrees.  Feels like Arizona!!  You only go outside to go to your air conditioned car, and then to the air conditioned store and back.  High yesterday was 104 on my shady patio.

It's been weird, to say the least.  There were NO fireworks last night.  Not even one tiny little BOOM.  Did I get transported to another planet?  It's a miracle, to say the least.  It's been sixteen years since that happened, and that's because I had the only occupied house among the bankruptcies.

So there I was, sitting in front of my fan sipping a cup-o-joe when the phone rang.  "We have a CONTROLLER".  You're kidding ... overnight?  Lucky me, the exact one required was just 60 short miles away.  They showed up at 8:30.  I can't sing their praises enough!!

Here she is ... the new fancy dancy "electronic" controller.  She hums like a purring kitten.  Did you notice anything else Nancy?  Why yes I did ... for whatever reason, the check valve that has not been working for the past two years, is now doing its job.  No more banging pipes in the house every time you turn on a faucet ... or start the washing machine.  No wall vibration, no weird humming and no clunking.  It's so quiet, it's amazing!  OH THE RELIEF!

No idea of the price yet ... but whatever it is, it will be worth it.

I celebrated by going to the grocery store.  This is just so weird.  It was empty.  You would think the day before the Fourth of July, it would be packed.  Nope ... I saw maybe 5 folks.  I was in and out in a flash.

Lunch was an experiment.  I keep seeing my Canadian friends eating pork and beans.  That was an old staple around the ranch ... you just put the can on the fire and heated it up.  I thought to try adding some of my pulled pork to it.  Sounded good to me .... but it went all wrong.

First up ... what happened to Campbells Pork 'n Beans?  The beans are bigger, the liquid not near as thick as it used to be and there's no smoky sweet flavor.  When did they change the recipe?  Bland, watery ... nothing at all like I remember.  Oh I ate it, but I was highly disappointed, especially since it was $3.99 for that can.  

To make it all better, I baked some Red Lobster biscuits.  Nothing beats these garlicy buttery beauties.

I packed a few more things in the van, trying to figure out where to put stuff.  I've got two huge bags of camera gear, a small barbecue, an EMS surge protector and no place to put them.  I'll get it sorted out eventually ... probably after I've been on the road for a couple of weeks.

It was just too darn hot to do anything, so I sat with Mr. Cooper and tried to work on this quilt.  It's hard when someone is in your face nose to nose wanting to play the ball game.  

Poor guy ... he was as hot as I was.  And so the clippers came out.  This is his LEAST favorite pastime ... getting a haircut.  

I persisted, chopping and hacking away until he was much less fluffy.  Hard to tell the difference, but he's much happier being much cooler.  I know that because we then had to play on the floor for an hour!!!

My plan for smoked ribs and potato salad went out the window when I saw the price of ribs, so I'm having a Hello Fresh kind of day.  I guarantee there will be NO pork 'n beans, and hopefully NO fireworks.  We'll see how that goes!!

HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY!  I'm celebrating with a shower and a big glass of cold water!!!

GOOD NEWS, BAD NEWS!

It was a pretty stressful day, as denoted by all those exclamation points.  I should have added about ten more.  Off to bed late, early to rise, spent half the day outside in the heat, then it was off to the Magic Kingdom for a long LONG night.  

But first ... let's check out the forecast.  Not looking so good at this point, and this is the conservative group of forecasters who usually get it somewhat right.  People are really freaking out because the IPhone weather app is saying upwards of 120.  Apparently we are flying closer to the sun this year.  I would love to see a depiction of the earths rotation 30 years ago versus now.

I was up really early since the Pump Guy said he would be here first thing.  That turned out to be 8:00 am. No time to get water in the RV, but I have half a case of water left over from my last trip.  No shower, but the kids got water and I at least got to brush my teeth ... for that big smile I gave the repair guys after they told me they might have to drill a new well to the tune of $10-15,000.  YIKES!!!

 

First they checked the controller.  Now it said "open load".  PULL THE PUMP sounded like OFF WITH THEIR HEADS to me!!  When they said "sorry", I knew I was in trouble.

And so they set up ... and took the top off.  We could smell the burn.  The wires were fried.  Well that's interesting.  It seems whoever was in there last (and I think it was one of their guys who insisted on measuring the water depth) used regular household wire connectors instead of commercial ones.  One melted, apparently shorting out and catching fire, which melted the second one completely.  

He repaired it all before continuing.  "Turn the breaker on" ... so I RAN all the way to the other side of the house ... and THANK THE GOOD LORD ... the controller had NO errors.  He said the pump was fine.  LET THERE BE WATER!  And there WAS!  No new well required.  What a relief.

It was short lived however, because the controller, although working intermittently, was toast.  Better that than a new well!  

And so I have water, but for the house only, and use it sparingly until they can order a new panel.  It can easily overheat he said and stop again.  At least I got a nice cold shower before Bingo!!  Of course since it's the Fourth of July tomorrow, and they are closed Friday, followed by the weekend, there will not be a controller any time soon.  So much for green lawns.

Off to Bingo I go.  It started out rather slow, which surprised us because we really crank up the AC.  Everyone comes out to play, just to stay cool.  There were 119 on this night, along with a lot of new folks who have never played before.  It takes a considerable amount of time to explain everything, making for unrest in the Castle.

Just to show you how much money rolls around, this lady bought $58.00 worth of bingo cards, and got $442.00 back in change, which she promptly dropped on pull tabs.  Pull tabs will pay from $500 up to $1199.  I don't think she won on this night.  It just boggles the mind.  We have a lot of young kids playing now too.  I might have done that when I was younger, but not now that I have bills to pay!!

It went along quite swimmingly until one of those young kids yelled Bingo before it's time.  The numbered ball shows up on monitors around the room.  Never EVER call bingo when you see it.  That number is called NEXT.  If you call too early, pandemonium erupts!  And erupt it did!!  It took ten minutes to calm everyone down as they were yelling NOT YET ... NOT YET.  

Okay ... NOW!!! as the next number was called.  Until he calls that number, you are NOT a winner winner!  The kid was pretty happy when they counted out $250 in front of him.  He probably went and bought more pull tabs because on this night we made a chunk for charity.  

In fact, Merced Elks Bingo just received a huge honor from the Central Valley as being the biggest donator to charity this year.  Lots of pomp and circumstance will follow (newspaper articles, a big fancy dinner) and we have to make a video about it.  That should be fun.

And so ended a VERY long stressful day.  I'll fill up the RV tank with water just in case.  With these temperatures, I'll be sticking close to home for the next week, hoping it cools off for my trip coming up.  I may have just become a fair weather traveler!!  

Hopefully that controller arrives before all my grass dies, keeping peace in the neighborhood.  I don't want to be THAT guy with the brown lawn.  

Stay cool ..................

ANOTHER ADVENTURE!!!!

 All adventures aren't good I suppose ... as evidenced by this one.  

As of 9:00 last night,

I HAVE NO WATER!!

Yessirree ... it's going to be 105 today and I have no water to drink, or shower.  The controller said pump  bound, then changed it to "open" something or other.

I called at 9:30 last night and was surprised they answered.  The pump has to be pulled ... and they don't know when they can get here.  Most likely the controller will have to be replaced also.  Can you say $$$$$?

To make it even MORE fun, it's the night of fun and festivities ... BINGO!!!

I'll leave you with this picture of the cookies, because I'm going to eat every one in order to remain sane when the pump crew arrives ... whatever time or day THAT may be.  

HAPPY CANADA DAY!!!

I admit, I never even heard of Canada Day before meeting George and Suzie out in the middle of the desert in Quartzite.  I don't know how I came across their blog, but I was fascinated that they did so much boondocking ... and I wanted to learn more.

I commented a couple of times before George said to come on out and meet the group ... and so I did.  That began a long friendship with several Canadians ... some of the nicest most helpful folks I've ever known.  There were a few Americans thrown in the mix ... also some of the nicest people on the planet ... and that's how I found out about Canada Day.  

It's so sad that George is gone now, but I learned a lot from him, and he wouldn't want us to be sad.  He would want us to keep on truckin' ... or RVing ... with a smile.  And so I celebrate Canada Day!!

But first, I had to meet up with friend Renate.  She's a German go-getter who rarely slows down.  She's widowed and my age, raring to go on trips in her new van.  Well not exactly new, she purchased it in December and has 13,000 miles on it already.  

She asked about the oil changes first.  You can go 20,000 miles without one.  Pretty crazy.  And yes, there is no dip stick.  If it needs oil, the dash computer will tell you so.  If not, just keep on driving.  They say the first oil change should probably be done at a Mercedes dealer.  Expensive you say?  I don't know, but my truck will take four changes every 6,000 at a cost of around $800, so there's that.

We talked battery shutoff, staying plugged in, engine battery ... all the normal stuff about when to stay plugged in.  Then I mentioned the side window shades ... they were heavy, but worked great.  No they don't she said ... they keep FALLING DOWN.  Oh yeah ... mine too until I learned they have to go on with the door open.  We both had a good laugh over THAT one!!    

I explained everything black tank, though she knew quite a bit of that already, having had a couple of disasters on her first trip.  It is surprising to me that we have the exact same rig ... hers a 2023 and mine a 2024 ... but they have changed SO much inside.  She has much more room, I have much bigger batteries and less room.  I have a big battery shutoff in the back, she has a tiny red button up front.  So the same, but different.  

She showed me where she stores all her camera gear, so that's a plus for me.  I showed her the plastic bins in my closet and about extension shower rods to hold things up and IN the cupboards.  Especially since she's leaving July 28 for Canada on a 2-1/2 month trip.  She's been before with another couple and knows some cool places to stop ... so we may go on a trip together in 2025.  

One caveat ... she wants to drive the Dempster Highway to the Arctic Ocean.  Not sure I'm brave enough to do that 400 mile (one way?) trip on a gravel road.  That can kill a rig pretty quickly, though I've seen pictures of people parked there in rigs like ours.  I'm kind of a Skagway girl, she's an Arctic Circle girl.

So after much conversation, she left and I hit the grocery store.  Prices just keep going up and up.  Here it was, Sunday around noon when the place is usually packed to the brim.  No one ... it was so empty I walked right up to be checked out.  But not until I was shocked once again by the cost of food.

Hamburger ... plain old hamburger was $9.98 a pound.  Can you imagine all the meat that goes to waste because no one buys it?  Here's the chuck roast I bought ... a 2.35 pound piece for $16.43.  I guess meat is out of the question from now on.  Just so you know, it's not the rancher who's getting rich, it's the middle man and the grocery store!!  My plan is to cut it in fourths and make at least eight meals from it.

I haven't mentioned it, but I've not had ICE CREAM in over three months.  No kidding ... that's pretty crazy!  Nor have I made cookies ... or cake.  I've been good ... but boy am I craving a big fat piece of frosting covered deliciousness!!  Five dollars for one piece was more than I could part with, so I thought I would make cookies.

Good grief ... the ingredients are outrageously priced too!  Even the lady I met at the checkout stand said the price of flour was through the roof.  Gee ... we need to rob a bank just to shop at the grocery store!!  I settled for this bag-o-cookies (I never buy these things) because it would be easy and cheap at $3.00.   

Back to tasting 101 ... here's lunch.  The second Healthy Choice thing I bought.  DO NOT BUY THIS.  It looks yummy, yes?  I swear we should be able to sue for false advertising.

Here it is.  The only thing that looks the same is the carrots.  Where's the broccoli?  Where's the luscious brown sauce?  and most important ... where's the BEEF?  Oh it's there, but I swear it's something made in a laboratory.  It didn't even resemble beef and tasted like cardboard.  I hate being wasteful, but I ate the carrots and threw the rest away.

Next up ... that famous chicken pot pie for dinner, of which I bought only one!!  I think it was $4.99.  I threw it in the oven where it had to live for 60 minutes!!  I'll report on that one tomorrow!!

We are in the middle of 100 rodeos in 100 days, so Mr. Cooper and I held the ouch down while watching some of the most impressive bucking horses and bulls I've EVER seen.  Cooper wasn't impressed with the team roping or the barrel racing, but he did bark at the bulls.

And so starts a new day of celebration for my Canadian friends ..... I wish you a HAPPY CANADA DAY!!!  I hope it's a sunny and dry one!!!