yummy ribs

Good morning.
The weather is absolutely beautiful!  Sunny, morning temps in the mid 70's and afternoon temps in the upper 90's and about 1% humidity. We've been sitting outside on the patio with no fan or misters. Going into the best weather of the year!
And as promised, pics of the yard that I've redone once again....

And it probably won't be the last time I 'redo' the yard either. It all depends on how different plants do. I guess I should be happy it's a small yard.   :-)
And progress on the puzzle....

We tried a different type of ribs for dinner....

Cook in bag ribs! Just 1 1/2 hours at 400 degrees right in the bag! And they turned out really good!

Very meaty and tender. Had plenty for leftovers too!
While I waited for dinner, I finished the puzzle!

It was a picture of buttons, so very colorful and challenging. But that's how I like them. It was more challenging because it was 1000 pieces, and like I said earlier, they are abut half the size of regular puzzles. But at only $1 each, This is a great buy and still a good puzzle. And....it fits on the table!
 I have 3 more to do and I think I'll go back and look for a couple more.
Well, that's all for now.

pizza, puzzles, and coyotes

Good afternoon.
We've just returned from lunch at the 3100 Grill. That's the little restaurant connected to the golf course in our community.  Good food for such a limited menu. We usually split an Avocado BLT with fries on Sourdough bread. Really good fries! We seem to eat there about once a month.
And here's a pic of the puzzle I started.....

We bought several puzzles at the dollar store. These are 1000 piece puzzles, and even though the pieces are shrunken compared to regular puzzles, they were only $1 each! And being smaller means they take up less room on the table!

But the tiny pieces also make it more of a challenge! I haven't done a puzzle in quite a few years and forgot how much I enjoy them.
Then we have a couple of pics from my morning walk yesterday....

Geese and ducks on the pond in our golf course. They sleep there to avoid the coyotes.
I also made a breakfast pizza! Saw the recipe in a magazine and tried it.

I used a frying pan instead of a pan in the oven. It has a bag of shredded hash brown that you mix with 2 eggs and seasonings, form it into a pizza shape in a pan. Cook and brown until golden then top with shredded cheese, break 4 eggs over the top, sprinkle your meat, we used crumbled turkey sausage, the heat until eggs are cooked, and serve. It was really good!
And speaking of coyotes, I saw 4 this morning on my walk.

It's not a very good pic as I was a ways down the street, but they were crossing the street using the golf cart trail up by the community center. So I've seen 7 coyotes in 2 days! Way more than I'd seen the entire first 2 years we've been here. Rumor has it 3 of them have taken up residence in a culvert on the edge of one of the greens. That's about where I saw the 3 of them early yesterday.
And I believe I've also noticed a substantial drop in the number of rabbits I see every morning.
So coyotes are good!
I think that's about it for now....

midweek update

Good afternoon.
Some beautiful weather here in the valley, and it will only get better over the next couple of months.   :-)
Here's a current pic of my fingerling cactus that I planted last fall....

It seems to be doing very well in it's pot. Hope it blooms good next spring.
I've also been 'redoing' parts of the back yard. I know, you're thinking, what could possible need doing in such a small yard? Well, as with all things, some plants do good, others, not so good. So at some point, you just need to decide when to give up on certain plants and just move on. Well, that's what I've been doing the last several days. Once I'm finished, I'll put some new pics here.
And with the 9/11 events, our community veterans group put up flags down the main road and in the community parking lot....

They sure looked nice in the morning when I walked, all lit up all across the parking lot on every light post.
So, keeping busy. Between walking, picking up 3 neighbors mail, checking on their houses, running water at one house every month, maintenance projects around the house and yard,  and weekly free slot tournaments and weekly free play at our casino, I'm keeping as busy as I want to be.
And speaking of weekly free slot play. Today we went to our casino for a play $5 get $5 in free slot play.
So Craig and I played, and turned that $10 into $48.88! I think that's pretty good! Got a little lucky! Of course, the trick is to leave when you get ahead, and not try to get farther ahead. And that's exactly what we did!   :-)
Okay, time for a little lunch......

ummm pie!

Good morning.
I've returned from my walk, cleaned the kitchen, and now I thought I'd do a post.
Here's the cherry pie I made Wed.

I had nearly too many cherries, but made them fit.   :-)
I make a crumb topping for my pies. It saves some calories over using 2 pastry crusts. Made it with fresh cherries that I bought for $.99 lb and froze, back before our road trip. It turned out pretty good!
And now with my medicare and supplemental insurance starting Oct. 1st. I went online and cancelled my Obama care policy. Got our new car insurance ready to start new the end of the month, along with canceling our Sirius radio subscription. We enjoyed having listening options on our road trip, but seldom listen to the radio around town. Plus, they give you really cheap prices when you want to start service, but not so great to continue. If we drive back again next year, I'll just sign up again for 6 months.
Here's a pic of the golf course in the middle of over seeding for winter. The course is closed for 2 weeks.

They thatch the center of the fairways, overseed with an annual rye I think, and water for 2 weeks to get the new grass growing. Apparently, they coordinate this with other area courses so golfers still have someplace to play. The outside areas of the fairway will go dormant as it gets colder.
Well today is haircut day again. Nice we can get it done here instead of having to go some place.   :-)

just another project

Good morning.
Got back from my morning walk, and went right into a project I've been working on for several days now.
I periodically check our drip system maybe once a month, to make sure all the dripper heads are functioning.  Occasionally a head will quit working for whatever reason and will need to be replaced.
Well, my last check several days ago turned up a couple of bushes in the front yard that weren't hardly getting any water, so upon checking the rest of the plants in the front yard, I discovered a small puddle among some rock. If this post sounds familiar, last spring I had almost the same problem, but in a different spot. Well sure enough, as I pulled away the stones and dirt, water came bubbling up from below.
Well, long story short, I had another root growing between the main line and several feeder lines as you can see in the pic below.....

So, as the root grows and gets fatter, it puts pressure on the feeder line until it is pulled off.

So I had to cut out the root, and reattach the feeder line. And even though I blew out the line with water before I reattached it, I still had 2 bushes and a plant that weren't getting any water....So...I had to run new drip lines to them.

The new feeder lines are on the left of the original ones.

And the yard put back together. I think they ran the main line and feeder lines too close to the tree. But builders do whatever they can to do things cheaper and easier. The leak last spring was about 2 feet to the right of this one.
In other news.......
We picked out excursions we thought we'd like to do on our next cruise. Getting together with the neighbors that are going with us to see if any of our choices match up.
And we went to the Salted Lime again yesterday for Taco Tuesday with some different neighbors. They just returned from a coastal train trip from LA to Seattle and back. Sounds like a nice trip we might want to do sometime.
I think today is haircut time and I'm also going to bake a cherry pie from the cherries I bought before our road trip.
That's it for now...