Being domestic.

Before I forget the header is from The Wetlands. Was told there are big beavers in this pond, but need to get there around 5 o'clock in the morning to see them. There are also big bullfrogs there. I've heard them but not seen any. This is one of my favorite places in the park. 

We were both kind of domestic over the weekend. Bill cooking and me sewing. He was making what he calls a Spanish Tortilla, in fact he made two of them. One for now and one in the freezer for another day. 

He wanted to use the new pans he had just bought. Can you see the brackets on the back of the pans. You can hook the pans together to flip the tortilla. (You can see our new toaster and coffee pot off to the side.)

This is not the recipe he uses but direction 5 (in red) tells how to flip it. He says it makes it so easy to do. He was tired of trying to hold two regular pans together to flip the food. 

The pans hooked together getting ready to flip them. 

The finished product, very, very good. 

I finished my  place mats. The front and the back

Each one has a different design in the center. I cut the pieces from the backing material then sewed them on. 

So now I have to find a new project. 

Weather today has cooled somewhat and there is a nice breeze, but I slept in and by the time I got up the sun was up too far. The other morning I walked before the sun came over the mountain. But is was already in the high 80's. So the walk was short.

Oh boy, I got an email from Dish TV that they had mailed our new receiver BUT when they addressed it they did not add our unit number - there are 500 homes in here...So called Dish, they told me to call UPS. Called UPS they said they could not correct and add number had to talk to Dish. So called Dish back. Got a very helpful lady. So ends up they will ship another receiver with unit number included in address and expedite it so it will arrive tomorrow when the other one was/is supposed to arrive. So we wait - will we get one or two new receivers? This seems to be the year of appliance failures. [We can still watch TV but all the movies etc we had recorded are gone! - or not, maybe we can recover them.]

Going to try to get up early tomorrow and for sure walk, as it is supposed to be even cooler. 

A post about nothing.

We are basically doing nothing these days. I did get out to walk one morning. At 5:30 and it was already in very high 80's. As long as there are clouds or sun doesn't get too high it is okay. This is a neighbors pink lilac bush. Don't ever remember seeing a pink one before. Sure has a delightful smell. 

And this is our front/side yard. Every thing is blooming and getting bigger. Guess they all like the HOT weather. 

When I started this post last week I was still working on my place mats. There are four of them. At this point I still had to pick out binding and backing material. That took me a few days. 

One morning early we drove by the RV storage area and discovered some wires hanging down from under the RV and one in particular was no longer connected!!! Luckily we went by when we did as the unconnected one - unlocked the main door!!! Here is Bill underneath putting everything back together and securing them back into place. No one had been inside, maybe the heat or wind knocked them down... 

A sunset one evening. 

And a sunrise the next morning.  We have been having a real heat wave. Temperatures up to 111 degrees and only cooling down to low 90's during the night. UGH. I got out to walk by myself a couple of time but have to get out by 4:30 or 4:45 to get in a good walk before the sun get high enough to make it unbearable. 

This community is getting a whole lot of new homes. I would have like to see them put these two on the lots. 

Especially this one. They are all 3 bedroom, 2 bath but vary in square feet. Start at $229,000. And you don't own the land. For manufactured homes that seems like a lot of money.  Four years ago they were $149,000.

Today we have strong winds, gusts up to 50 mph. We've got all kinds of some else's trash in our back yard this morning. Not going out there until the wind stops or lets up some. At least it is bringing in some cooler weather. That just means it won't reach 100 JUST 99 for a few days. 

Made slow cooker sweet and sour chicken yesterday. Turned out pretty good. You know I'm bored when I start looking for recipes...

NASCAR race yesterday was terrible, but glad Suarez won. And then last night while watching a recorded movie the hard drive on our Dish receiver crashed. They will send us a new one but we've probably lost all the movies etc we'd recorded. Tech said we "MIGHT" be able to get them but the operative word is might. Instructions will come with new receiver that will be here in a couple of days. They wanted to charge me for it - I don't think so, it is their equipment. Argued, so there won't be a charge. I hope I can get it connected. At least that will give me something to do.

Another 10,000 step day.

This was last week, what I thought would be my last walk in The Wetlands - it is getting hot very early in the morning now. However I did walk there today at 5:30 a.m. By the time I got home at 6:30 it was up into the 80's already.  A look at the beginning of summer here. With the wind feels like a hair dryer blowing on you. 

So here are more pictures from that walk. The first jack rabbit I've seen there. We see lots and lots of cotton tails. 

We've been wondering about the strange webs in the rocks with the hole in the middle of them. Found this on line. So guess this is what makes them. "Description – The aptly-named funnel web is, as you could guess, shaped like a funnel. Expanses of thread span over a variety of distances, and they meet in the middle where they form a cylindrical hole. This hole is where the funnel-weaver spider hides out and reaps some of the great benefits of this web design.How it works – There are several interesting perks of this web design. First and foremost, it offers great protection for its creator, as the spider can hide in the difficult-to-access center.Additionally, it’s the perfect ambush structure. Insects walk across the mat-like web, get tangled up, and are then subdued by the spider that quickly rushes out of its hole when it senses vibration."

Always something different to see here. Half of this tree burned at one time. The other half didn't. 

Looks like the beavers have been busy. Have not seen one but this dam is new.  We were told there are about 80 beavers in the park. But have to get up really early to see them. 

Just a serene pretty location. 

It looks like the turtles eggs are gone, I hope someone from the park dug them up to incubate them. Not that a coyote or bird ate them. 

Another little pond. We discover new ones all the time. We can hear the water so go looking for them. 

The beginning of the river. Lots of carp and water fowl around this area. 

I continue to work on my table mats. Almost have them done.  Boy talk about sticker shock. Went to Denny's for breakfast this morning. Well I had bacon, 2 eggs and 2 pancakes and coffee. Bill had lunch Bourbon chicken skillet and coffee. Price was $33! I used to get that breakfast for 4.99 it was a value meal. No more. Guess we need to get out more. Also went to WalMart and noticed they had baby formula but it was behind locked glass doors. And the rest of the shelves were empty. Then got gas in car - a little over half a tank for $45. I shudder when I think of when we fill the RV to go somewhere.

Will try to do better on writing more often.