A New Form Of Torture!

 Big sighs today.  We have acquired a new form of torture, and this one is the worst yet.  Yesterday morning I began to cough ... a gut wrenching, muscle pulling DRY cough that would not stop.  Good grief ... I've had a cold before, but this is one of the worst.  The only good news is that I missed the razor-blade sore throat part.  

I was up a few times at night trying to come up with some sort of something to stop this nonsense when I realized Kitters has now become THE WATCH CAT.  Really?  Every time I came out, there she was, ,guarding the back door.

Here's a better picture of her eyes.  I've never seen a cat with eyes like this, nor have I ever seen a feral kitty so friendly.  Makes me think she belonged to someone before.  Every time I walk out, there she is, meowing and looking for scratches.

In the morning, I actually felt okay for all of 30 minutes.  I have known the weeds were out of control for a month, but I couldn't gather up any gumption to spray them.  It needed to be done, so I bit the bullet and made up one small batch, spraying everything I could.

That's when I discovered this.  What the heck is that in the seams of concrete?  

It looks like coffee grounds.  Then it dawned on me ,.. those are dead ants.  This is somewhat close to the area where a HUGE hive lives.  The day before, I had sprinkled some Amdro in the grass.  It's working!!!!

And MORE!!  As I walked along however, I noticed that if I stepped on the edge, millions more came out in droves ... like a big flood from ant-dom.  No kidding ... if they were a little bigger, it would be a scary proposition.  That many dead and that many STILL ALIVE?  I got out the bottle and sprinkled even MORE along that entire edge.  This nest is at least ten feet long.  Just WOW!  I'm being invaded!!  I'll be putting out a lot more in the next few days.  

That's when I discovered this.  THIS is what happens when you are sick and not tending the garden.  Really?  This is a three pound zucchini!  One of the very few that actually grew normally, though big enough to feed ten people.  Unfortunately, I'm not in the mood for food, let alone zucchini.

Though I truly wasn't feeling it ... or tasting it for that matter ... I made one more BLT sandwich with the last of the red tomatoes.  I couldn't even taste the bacon.  What I DID do, was place a small order at Walmart Pickup ... to get me by for a couple more days.  

Feeling really crappy, I went to pick it up ... staying in the truck the entire time.  I learned a lesson on this day.  Never EVER order anything on a Sunday, and always order enough for 25 people to eat for a month.  Good grief ... every load that came out was eight of those big blue boxes full of stuff the guys had to unload into a too small car.  It took forever!  All I got was two small plastic bags!!

Finally back home and entrenched on the couch, I got this notice.  I've been complaining about not being able to see anything because of my watery itchy eyes.  I can't even read a book or my phone for that matter.  They are definitely listening ... but at least they still have my location wrong.  

Sadly, with this new form of torture, I do not see myself trotting off to Bingo tomorrow.  I'll be spending all day on the couch with Mr. Cooper, coughing my brains out!!!  

RECORD BREAKING SNEEZES

 Nope ... not better.  Not better at all.  Even putting caramel ice cream syrup in my coffee didn't help one bit.  It's been record breaking.  

I'm lucky to have taken any pictures since my eyes are watering so much I can barely see anything.  Doing all my morning brain games was a bust.  On the other hand, Kitters has made herself right at home and now spends every night on the patio.

After a record breaking morning of sneezing before 6:30 am, I decided to mark them down.  I mean what else can I do.  I'm miserable and .... well .... sneezing.

By 9:30 I seemed to get a reprieve.  Still congested, but not feeling quite so miserable, I thought I better use up that last two cups of cream before it went bad.  I got out my custard recipe.  My tip of the day, is never EVER make anything when you are sick.  

My brain just didn't work at all.  I completely forgot you had to cook the stuff in a pot before cooking it again in the Instant Pot.  Here's how it turned out.  Funny, that pretty much looks like how I feel!!

Another two hours on the couch and though I wasn't the least bit hungry, I also needed to cook that bacon from the fridge.  Here's my setup ... quick and easy.  WOW ... though it was 12 ounces, or so they said, there was only 8 pieces in the package.  I grabbed another one out of the freezer.  Do you know how hard it is to get thin sliced bacon defrosted?  

That went back in the fridge while I whipped up a BT sandwich.  No lettuce was in sight.  All the while I sneezed.  

Even Kitters wanted to know what was up.  She's now taken up residence on THIS table right by the window.

About halfway through the afternoon, I had sneezed closed to 50 times.  No kidding ... I marked down every one.  I mean really, what else did I have to do?  Don't believe me?  This message came up on my phone.  Seriously?   You are listening to how many times I sneeze?  And you think I live in Nevada City!!  Okay, they got one right.

I finally gave up and went to bed, not that it helped.  Here's the tally.  71 times I sneezed in one day.  My eyes were so red, puffy and swollen I could barely see.  I finally took a Benadryl and tried to sleep to the banging sounds of dueling house back-yard parties.  This time they were smart ... they turned it off at 10:00.

The good news is I have only sneezed twice so far, I can see a little better and my eyes aren't leaking water.  Hopefully it stays that way.  No doubt this is a nice gift from a disgruntled Bingo player.  I would blame it on my Fairy Godmother, but she's not sneezing at ALL!!  

PARTY ON!!!!

Old Gal, Old Milk, Old Cold?

 GOOD MORNING from the hot Central Valley.  Do I sound all chipper?  Yeah, turns out not so much.  But LOOKY HERE!!  Look what I found in the RV cupboard.  Not one, but TWO more cans of my sweet coffee.

It was kismet ... because I think my allergies have turned into a full blown old fashioned cold.  I didn't think these even existed any more, but alas, that may be it.

No sore throat and no fever, but my head is plugged up like my vacuum cleaner!  The pain was real, followed by bouts of sneezing which made me think my head was going to explode.

I finally gave in and took two pills ... I won't tell you what because it's probably not doctor approved ... but at least I was able to breathe better, the pain in my head subsided and I actually got some sleep on the couch.  Therefore, no pictures of anything boring happening on the home front.  

In the meantime, I'm savoring my cup-o-jo that has APR 2023 on the can.  Yeah, it tastes like really old powdered milk.  Maybe I'll stir up the can a bit and try for a second cup.  

The SnEEzInG fits continue ..........  now to clean up the coffee I spilled on the floor from the last one!

Allergic ... I'm Allergic!!

 Good Morning WORLD!!  We are up and at 'em early on this day.  You would almost think I lived in Florida, with all the palm trees.  I don't think they are really palm trees, but they look beachy when blowing in the breeze.

We were up with the chickens on this day.  You could hear them cackling LOUDLY.  I'm not sure why chickens are up so early in the morning, but they sure do make a racket!

I increased the noise by sneezing the entire way.  WHY was determined a little later when I headed off to do some accounting.

Mr. Cooper was sound asleep when I snuck out the door.  Lucky guy!  I mean really, what could be more fun than spending four hours with a frustratingly new computer program that used to be easy as pie.  Now they have made it TRULY hard, I'm positive so they can sell you their "WE CAN HELP YOU" bundle.

I wasn't surprised to find the farmers hard at work.  I've mentioned before that we are surrounded with almond trees around here.  Millions of them.  They of course, require harvesting.  After turning the irrigation water off for many days, the trees are shaken half to death by this machine.  That makes the nuts fall to the ground, along with all the dust that has accumulated on the tree for the last year.  

But WAIT ... let's make the air even HARDER to breathe by running this thing down the rows, sweeping up the nuts, the dust and about half the dirt on the ground.  You can see this happening MILES away.  What happens when you live this close?  You become allergic to the air and the almond dust.  Truly, it's not even the dust ... it's the chemicals that are sprayed on the trees throughout the year.  

And so I'm pretty sure that's why I'm sicko at the moment.  Every year I get a little worse for wear.  It doesn't help that four hours of accounting was right smack dab in the middle of an orchard.  C'est la vie!!  I do have to be careful though, because if I get the dirt on my legs, it turns into big red splotches.  It's a terrible way to go!!

Though my one hour turned into four, I was treated to lunch on this day.  It works out great, because I end up with half of everything left over for dinner.  Next time I'll suggest Habit Burger.

Exhausted, I fell asleep on the couch for an hour before waking up to this kid.  He certainly has a way of speaking his mind.  He wanted dinner and wasn't taking NO for an answer.

I'm still checking on the coffee, but I'm thinking that orange syrup just might hit the bullseye.  I even saw 30 bottles of it in Marshalls the other day.   I think another trip to town is in my near future, mostly because I have a haircut appointment at 8:30 this morning.  My oh my ... that is WAY too early for me to be out and about.  It breaks my #1 rule ... I can't go anywhere before 10:00 a.m.

BAD ... GOOD ... BAD

 It's the way of life I suppose.  There's good news, bad news and eventually good news again.  On this day, I started off with the bad.  I emptied the very last can of Orange Cafe coffee.  I've been drinking this yummy brew since the 1980's.  It's the best one they ever made.  Not too sweet, not too strong, but JUST right!!  This can had 2019 stamped on the bottom.  I'm now relegated to Cafe Vienna ... no relation, and definitely NOT the same flavor.  It's the end of an era.  I'm sad.

I thought maybe some of that Belgian chocolate would perk me up.  The King told me it was DARK chocolate, not my favorite, but I was willing to give it a shot.  Well ... apparently it was in his very hot car all day before he gave it to me.  When I opened the package, it dripped out.  

I took that first taste and OH MY GREAT AUNT SUZIE!  How can anything taste this good?  I quickly put it in the fridge to set up.  An hour later I broke off a piece and took a REAL taste.  OH MAMA ... WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN ALL MY LIFE??  This stuff is food from the Gods.  How did I not know about it??  I cannot find any indication of the brand, but you can bet your sweet patootie that I will be ordering MORE of this .... BUCKETS more!!

My soul temporarily soothed with chocolate, I told Cooper goodbye as I headed off to the three local cheap stores looking for big plastic plates on which to serve the Shrimp Feed appetizers.  He wasn't exactly excited about me being gone.

Oh my gosh ... doesn't anyone work any more?  Marshalls was so crowded I couldn't even get down the aisles.  They obviously overbought from somewhere.  Things were falling off the shelves and you couldn't even get a shirt out of the rack to see what it looked like.  I found this one on an end cap and grabbed it.  My closet is full of polo shirts and "cowboy", none of which work for anything remotely fancy.  It fits perfect and cost $19.00.  You can't beat that with a stick.

The plates?  Never found anything that would work.

Two stores later and I was back home checking for tomatoes.  This is only one Early Girl plant, going crazy.  It required three tomato cages and has grown taller than the fence.  Alas, only four red tomatoes so far.  Maybe in a couple of days when the temps hit 102.

Some good news .... I finished the last border on this quilt.  I decided it was too small and needed one more, but I couldn't find any fabric that was acceptable.  It's still hanging on the wall.

More good news ... I found this panel hiding under yards of other fabric, and whipped up this one in about an hour.  The Shrimp Feed asked for TWO small quilts with a patriotic theme.  This should work just fine.

The last and the WORST news of the day.  I'm sick.  Yup ... I told my Fairy Godmother she sounded sickly and she should GO HOME, but alas, playing BINGO is an obsession.  She stayed and gave me her bug two weeks ago.  

So far I'm just snuffy and I sound a little raspy.  She came back the following week just fine, so I'm hoping it's just a quickie.  Maybe, just MAYBE if I eat the rest of that Belgian chocolate bar in one fell swoop, it will help!  Then I'll be on my computer trying to find out where I can buy more!!!  Like THREE CASES more!!

THE KING RETURNS

Good morning, good morning.  This weather is just downright weird.  It's 61 outside this morning and heading on up to a weeks worth of 100.  Maybe my Early Girl tomatoes will ripen after all, but I'm not holding my breath.

You guessed it ... by the picture of course ... it's time for the Magic Kingdom of Bingo.  Though I had a lot of fun while he was gone, I'm glad the King is back in town.  

But first, Mr. Cooper and I went for yet another walk.  At least something is loving this weather, because these sunflowers are STILL blooming like crazy!!  I tried to rest up after our little walk, but the closet was calling my name.  There's stuff in there that would make GREAT raffle prizes for the Shrimp Feed, so I loaded them up before taking off.  I'll donate this stuff anywhere to make more room for more stuff. You know how that goes.

First thing when I got to the lodge, I met up with my Fairy Godmother who had everything set up and shipshape.  I donated the small carpet cleaning machine (used maybe three times) to her.  If she can't use something, she sells it for me.  I'm telling you, that girl is worth her weight in gold.  

I greeted the King with open arms, whereupon he told me I did a GREAT job.  I think he was just glad no one got handcuffed.  Then he gave me this.  It's a tin of REAL Belgian chocolate, hand carried all the way back to me.  How nice is that!!!  I even love the box, which has a lid on hinges.  I haven't opened it yet ... maybe today.

The night went pretty well until I got up to call the Early Bird games.  I swear ... machines don't like me.  The first game went fine, as did the second.  When we got to the third game, it all went south.  It said GAME FOUR.  But I was SURE I had only called two.  

Sure enough, the new guy before me hit the wrong button and called one of my games.  That meant the machine skipped OVER that one and jumped to game four.  Well that's not good!  Fairy Godmother to the rescue ... we pulled up that game and erased all of the numbers so I could start again with the correct game.  If looks could kill, I'd be dead ... but no one said a word, so on we went.

With those games done, I went back to my newest job of putting out pull tabs and collecting money for the back room, when the King decided it was time for a message.  YIKES!!  He got up on stage with the microphone and held up this $20.00 bill.  Did I show this to you last week?  Oooweee did he ever read them the riot act!!    

He said we play a straight game here.  If ANYONE tries to pass another fake bill, he will call the cops and send them to jail.  He wasn't kidding either!  It was so quiet you could hear a pin drop!

Needless to say, everyone was on their best behavior the rest of the night.  Sadly though, the infernal cash register machine ran a number on the new cashier.  She didn't balance this time, no matter how hard we tried.  Lucky me, I was out the door by 9:30.  Yeah, it was only 30 minutes faster than the last too weeks, but 30 minutes is 30 minutes!  

I was greeted at the door by this smiling face.  By the way, it was National Bow Tie Day yesterday, so of course he had to wear his, a black tie affair.

If only we could have celebrated it last night.  It's why my eyes are barely open this morning.  He woke me up pawing on my shoulder, at 1:22 am.  He was serious, which means I need to RUN ... and so I did.  Right to the back door with him hot on my heels.  I opened the door to hear the loudest screeching ever!  I didn't turn the alarm off.  

Payback to all those neighbors who play their music WAY too loud.  Neither Cooper nor Kitters moved an inch.  I ran to the control and shut it off.  Well that was fun ... and I was wide awake for the duration.  I canceled everything on my schedule for today.  SLEEP ... I need SLEEP!!

Stars and Squash

 This is what "I" should be doing.  Sleeping at 4:30 in the morning like Kitters.  This is her SPOT now.  Every time I open the door to let Cooper out, she comes running.  They have been nose to nose several times, and as long as she doesn't run, Cooper does not chase.  She has however, fuzzed up her tail a couple of times.  I'm completely surprised they haven't gotten into a cat fight!

Veggies on this morning were plentiful.  This is definitely NOT the yellow squash I grew up with.  The tomatoes .... YUMMY .... and the peppers, pawned off on the Lodge kitchen crew.  They love them!

I mean really ... look at the difference between these two tomato plants.  That's the chocolate on the left that is HUGE and the small dark green cherry tomato on the right in the blue bin.

This is what the chocolate is now producing.  Tiny tomatoes not half an inch wide.  They still taste okay, but I think I ate too many yesterday.  My stomach is telling me all about it.

While out very early, I spotted the phenom of planets.  There are supposed to be six of them all lined up.  That's the moon up top, one teeny tiny one at the very bottom, and one even smaller above it.  I can see them pretty well with my naked eye, but not so much with the camera.  Even dehazing did not help.

This on the other hand, is someone else's photo who lives much closer to the action.  They got all six lined up.  I haven't a clue which is which, but it was kind of cool to see them in the night sky.  

Back inside, it dawned on me I had not seen Jeeves in a month or more.  I finally went to investigate.  I spent probably two hours giving him CPR.  No internet connection it said on my phone.  That means dead as a doornail.  I finally moved him to a different plug-in location, and after whacking him on the butt several times, he finally began to charge.  I'm not sure what the problem is there.  While I was doing laundry two hours later, he slammed into my foot.  Okay ... I guess he's still alive!

I ended up in the sewing room for lack of anything else constructive to do, and stared at this for awhile.  Turns out it's going to be much smaller than anticipated.

That's when I spotted this.  Can you see it?  Good grief .. how many of you have had your lights just fall out of the ceiling?  I did not make a run for the ladder this time.  It's in a very awkward position over my ironing board and some low built-in cabinets.  Maybe later .......

Instead, I spent the rest of the afternoon sewing this together.  I love the pattern and the colors, but it's going to be pretty small.  There is another border to be sewn on, but I think I'll add a third to make it a tad bit bigger.  

Dinner was less than exciting.  I've actually thrown away most of the squash that's grown in the back yard.  This is not the yellow squash of old.  There's no flavor at all ... much like eating paper, not that I've done much of that in my life.  I added lots of spices and even parmesan cheese.  My stomach is grumbling loudly this morning about the lack of MEAT and SUGAR.  Maybe a cookie will take care of that.

The good news of the day ... THE KING OF BINGO RETURNETH!  I will once again be relegated to the Infernal Machine unless I can sidle my way into another job ... like calling some of the games.  That's more fun ..... except for the slings and arrows if you make a mistake!!  I'll put on my iron underwear just in case!!

ANT KILLER

 Sunday, Sunday, Sunday!  Isn't there a song about that?  I was determined to get some sleep, so I actually took an Advil PM.  I woke up four times, but at least I don't remember any weird crazy dreams.  It was probably French Toast that was swimming in my brain.

I was heading out to breakfast with friends on this day.  I'm pretty sure we spend much more time talking than eating.  Yup I ordered French Toast, though mine didn't have any blueberries on it.  What it DID have was not one, but TWO containers of syrup!  Nothing like starting the day off with thousands of grams of sugar!!

Interestingly enough, that almost put me to sleep by the time I got home.  I thought sugar was supposed to make you wired!!  Anyhoo, I got out the Amdro ant killer and read the label.  It told me nothing about pets, so I got online to see if I could use this inside my yard with a puppy and a kitty hanging out.

I chickened out and spread it around OUTSIDE the gate.  If you turn it upside down and squeeze, it comes out like baby powder.  PERFECT!  I pulled a few weeds to find where the ants were (they seem to hang out underneath) and sprinkled it down one entire side of the house.  There were ants EVERYWHERE!  Truly, they have completely taken over this property.

Last night I went to check.  There was not an ant to be seen.  I even went barefoot in the flowerbeds ... nothing!  This is just amazing!  I went to the back yard and sprinkled some in the worst spots.  I distracted Kitters with food while I did so, and of course kept Cooper inside.  I always keep a close eye on him OUTside due to Kitters, so he won't have a chance to eat any.  Plus, I'm sure the sprinklers will dissolve it quickly.  I can't WAIT to see the results!

Next up, an hour on the computer looking at things like this.  My friend wants to get into the T-shirt heat transfer business.  This one does not only T-shirts, but cups, ball caps, plates and tumblers.  Wow ... she could make some money around here for a measly $200 including tax, shipping and insurance.  I told her to up her house insurance in case she burns it down.

She ordered this one, so we shall see how it goes.  Sparkly T-shirts ... here we come!!!

While doing that, I found this cute idea for all you fishermen out there.  You could have pictures of THE BIG ONE hanging from the pole you caught it with.  I sent this to my friend who owns a houseboat.  She's out fishing every night catching anything and everything.  Her freezer is full of fish and she's hanging this on her wall!!  I love it!!

With that done, I headed back outside to check the garden.  Ok, I admit only three of these tomatoes are mine.   The rest came from a donation for helping find the heat press.  How could I not have another grilled cheese sandwich with tomatoes for lunch.  I know, I burned it ... but just a bit because I got distracted by a good looking Australian bull rider.  

It was STILL the best ever ... with more of that sourdough garlic bread.  I swear, I'm putting garlic in all my bread from now on!

A little bored and now CRAVING sugar ... that French Toast was a BAD idea ... I whipped up a batch of peanut butter cookies.  One a day keeps the doctor away.  What?  You haven't heard of that one?  Oh yes ... I rarely EVER need a doctor, and I owe it all to these cookies filled with peanut butter chips!!

At last I hit the sewing room to begin the next quilt.  This material ... it's different.  The patterned one pictures Indian pottery.  It's colorful to be sure, and directional.  I wasn't sure it would work when cut into tiny pieces, but the expert at the quilt shop said OH YES.  It will be great.

Though I had the pieces already cut out, the five squares took me four long hours to sew.  There was lots of squaring up involved, but I loved the results.  The center top square was done differently, which took over an hour to do just one.  SO MUCH IRONING!  

For once, I really like the color choices.  It's not instant gratification, this one, but I like it a lot.  Squirrel!!!!  Oh look ... I found another similar pattern on the internet!!  Gee, I guess I'll have to try that one too!!

In the meantime, there's a gathering of the planets in the sky.  Just walk outside early in the morning to see this.  Not really, they are WAY far apart, but this morning I spotted three of them within camera range.  

Not sure I got a decent shot, but I'll try to come up with a picture for tomorrow.  In the meantime, have a GREAT day ... and remember, you only go around once, unlike the planets, so EAT THE COOKIES!