~ My 2018 Birthday Extravaganza Day Eight! ~

Another fun day lined up. I am heading out to Best Buy as

the movie "IT" (2017) is being released to Blu-ray today.

It has been raining all night and it is raining as I leave

El Rancho De La Tex.

Arriving at Best Buy. Still raining.

I did get "IT" on Blu-ray. I also bought "Under the Skin" with

Scarlett Johansson. Between "The Avengers", "Ghost in the

Shell" and "Lucy", I really like her. I also bought "The Belko

Experiment" which I have heard a lot about. These last two movies

were really inexpensive. Especially since I used a Best Buy

Birthday 10% off coupon and a gift card that I received when

I bought my phone from Best Buy. So I only paid..... NOTHING!

Good deal says I.

 My next stop since it is in the same area is Fry's Electronics.

I have a little list for this store.

Oh man. I have had "Arizona" (1940) on my Amazon Wish List

for YEARS. And I found it here, for only $4.99. Excited for this

Western. The Old Tuscon Studio in Arizona was built expressly

for this movie. This is Western Movie History. 

I also found "THX1138" on Blu-ray for a really really good

price: $5.97. I have the DVD, but this George Lucas movie is

really good and I wanted the Blu-ray upgrade. When I got it

home I discovered why it was priced so low. The Blu-ray case

is thrashed. Not to worry. I have spares.

Impulse buy, kind of. I did want one of these Gerber Shard tools.

But the opportunity never presented itself until I reached the

register today and they were sitting next to it. Semi-impulse.

Gerber years ago made really nice knives. Now? Not so much.

They have gone WAY downhill. We will see how this little

Shard tool does. And by the way, when are they going to

stop putting bottle openers on everything? When was the last

time you used a bottle opener? Yet they have them on

EVERYTHING. Can't understand it.

(Oh yeah, I bought some coaxial cable I needed and some

lint free cloth things for our TVs, phones and computers.)

Two more stops for today. The first one will be Tom's Burgers

for a bit of lunch. When I am with my son we eat inside, but I am

alone today so I am going through the drive-through.

  I think I forgot to mention that as I was leaving The Ranch

on Monday's Extravaganza Day, my car took a dive. I was just

hoping and praying that I would be able to use another of our

cars or my Extravaganza would come to a halt. THANKFULLY, I WAS
able to use another car. BUT, the driver's side window on this car
does notwork, so I had to wait with the door open for the guy to get
to me and then order my food. I took a shower. Literally.

The burger was good.

Last stop. Gas. I am glad I spotted the "Sorry, Out Of Service" cover

on the gas pump before I got out of the car. What? You have done that

too? Yeah. That is noooooo fun. Hey! My pocketbook feels a'WAY

lighter after that fill-up. Thanks Governor Jerry Brown.

You are my frickin' idol.

Well, I have to get to bed. Stuff to do

really early tomorrow. Yep.

~ My 2018 Birthday Extravaganza Day Seven! ~

 Another great Birthday Extravaganza day. This one seems to

be raining off and on. More on than off later in the day.

 

My first stop today is a place that we have been to before, the

Army Navy Store. Again, not be best one in the

world, but fun to visit.

This is all I bought today. I did get a couple of P38 can openers.

Pretty good price at about 30 cents each. Some charge ridiculous

prices for them. I used to get bunches of them at gun shows for

5 or 10 cents each and give them to friends. Folks who don't know

what they are at first have a good time with them.

Next I am over at a Boot Barn that I have not been to before. Oh man,

this one is much bigger than the one I usually go to. I didn't get a picture

of the inside (fail). I was too busy looking around. I didn't find anything

that I could not live without (that I could afford anyway).

But I did get this cool little wall decoration or

wall hook or something. I like this a lot.

 

 And as I had planned, right next door to Boot Barn is a Turner's Outdoorsman

store. I like this one. It is nicer than the one in my area. I was looking for a few

things that I did not find but I did see my next pistol. A Smith & Wesson 686M

.357 magnum seven round with a 2" BBL. I want that pistol SO bad. But at about

$850 it will have to wait a while. It's all good. I'm covered.

 

I DID find something that was not on my list but I was so HAPPY to find. I have

been looking forever for shooting glasses that fit over prescription glasses. I cannot

afford prescription shooting glasses so this is the answer. I have had them on my

Amazon list for a few years, but just did not want to pay shipping. So finding them

in person? Most excellent. These are made by Peltor. I have some of their stuff and

it has been good to me.

Next I went over to the mall. Got a great parking place which

is unusual. Good deal because it might be raining

when I get out, and dark.

I walked around the mall and checked out some stores.

The Disney Store didn't have any good sales on Star Wars

stuff this time around. So I walked around some more.

And some more.

And not sure which picture of the same place

looked better so I posted both of them.

I went to SEARS. Don't laugh. I bought a chisel for my toolbox.

I had $4.00 credit and this was only $3.00 after that.

I decided to take a load off and people watch for a while.

I went to Hot Dog on a Stick, one of the weirdest places

in any mall. I had never had their lemonade, or any

lemonade in ages for that matter.

I tried the cherry lemonade. Oh my gosh this stuff is

da bomb. Really really tasty. I sat here for about ninety

minutes listening to my iPod and sipping my any age

appropriate beverage. 

Then.... I decided leave the mall to get

something to eat before calling it a day.

Yes sir.

After I pick up my Little Caesars pizza I will usually drive over to

another food place to get a cold drink with ice. Tonight it is McDonald's.

It is nice also because I can use their restroom before making the long

drive home. I have quite a way to go. And I better head on now.

It is getting late (again, by older people standards).

Stay tuned! The Birthday Extravaganza

is not winding down just yet!

~ My 2018 Birthday Extravaganza Day Six! ~

 On Wednesday I posted that I bought the 8 inch Lodge

cast iron pan that I finally found over at Target. I could

not wait to try it. So on my kind of down-time Extravaganza

day, today... I did!

I seasoned it a couple of times on the stove and

in the oven and I think she is ready to make me happy.

I started out with some bacon.

*Homer Simpson donut sounds*

Then I moved on to the potatoes. Holy cow this pan is nice. The

potatoes are cooking in a third of the time and they are so tender

inside and crisp outside. Nice.

Then................... eggs. Fluffy City. No stick. Very nice.

As I have posted before, I like my food a little more well done than

most folks, so to me this is perfect. This was delicious. Some of the

best I have done. I also had some of the Oreo Cookie hot chocolate.

Dang. Good stuff.

Quick cleanup of the pan. I seasoned it a little more on the

stove and I was done. Cast iron is awesome. I can't wait

to work with it again.

Tomorrow my Birthday Week Extravaganza continues!

~ My 2018 Birthday Extravaganza Day Five! ~

Like I wrote before, I don't usually leave The Ranch on Saturdays

or Sundays. Just too many people in town. But the Extravaganza

continues! My son and I used this time to install some solar lights

for my mom. We had given them to her for her birthday and it

was was about time we get it done.

There were a few little obstacles along the way...

...and some of this ground was just nothing but rocks

I will tell you what. It took longer than expected. There

were only twelve for this go around but that was enough.

I am tarred. They look good at night though.

 Mom is happy.

~ My 2018 Birthday Extravaganza Day Four! ~

 I was driving up our road today and I saw a squirrel in the middle of

the road just disappear! Poof! Just like that! Gone! As I got closer I realized

how. A hole, in the hard road. These guys are d-e-s-t-r-u-c-t-i-v-e. Insane.

 

 Anyway, another beautiful Birthday Extravaganza day as I leave El Rancho

Del La Tex. Today I'm on my way to the mall that I have not been to since my

last birthday. At that time they were remodeling the whole place. So I gave them

time to get that all squared away. Hopefully the mess is over. I am also going to

Boot Barn. I cannot believe that I have not been THERE in a year either.

Off we go...

Oh no. Holy Cow. Que paso? Boot Barn?

 

 My beloved Boot Barn. It was here... Now it's gone.

Not to worry! It just moved to the other side of

 the parking lot! Huzzah!

But I knew that.... I am just messing about a bit.

 

I knew what I wanted to get for myself this year.

 

 And I did.

A little pistol necklace. When the associate was getting

it out of the case for me she asked if I wanted the matching

earrings. "A little too much hardware to wear at one time"

I thought to myself and replied, "No thank you." I will wear this

pistol along with the horseshoe necklace I bought last year.

They go together nicely, in a fun way.

And now... over to the mall.

Hey, they brought this place up to speed.

It was pretty old school before.

Truth be told, I am good with it either way.

They both have their good points.

Kinda nice feature. The tables around the mall

have USB charging ports. Those could come in

handy to be certain.

 

Anyway, the store I really want to go to is FYE, to check

out movies. I can find some good deals in here

sometimes. There is also some really over priced

stuff. We'll ignore that.

And I passed up some REALLY good clearance priced

figures this time. I mean GREAT prices. But I have no more

room for the stuff. No bueno.

But I found a few good movie deals. I bought "LIFE" used

(but you would never know it) for $9.99. I could have held

off a few months and probably gotten a better price, but

what the hay. This is the movie I saw at Barnes &

Noble for $34.99. Can you believe that?

 

A couple of these Blu-rays are up-grades

and some are new to me.

After FYE I went into the arcade a played a few games

of Skeeball. I like that game. I won quite a few tickets

and gave them to a couple of young girls who were

having a ball in there playing "Deal or No Deal".

 

Break time. I searched for Surf City as I love their Banana Banana

smoothies. They are not here anymore. Dang. I have not had one

in a year and wanted one. I moved on. I decided to have a

Wetzel's Pretzel with pepperoni. Pretty good trade-off.

 

On to the other store I love but where I cannot buy what I

want because I have zero room left for this stuff so I usually

just try to find something from the bargain bin that

is a little unusual or different. Comics-N-Stuff.

This year I found and bought what I thought was a

Kaiju character. I could have sworn that this was a Kaiju

that I had seen in a movie. Nope. He is an Ankylosaurus.

 A cheesy dinosaur from some 1980's Dino Riders cartoon or

some such thing. I did get a good deal on him though. And

I do like him... a bit. He is 30 years old.

He's just not what I thought he was.

Go little feller! GO!

 

 When I am at this mall I like to go to SEARS to see if

they have a tool I can add to my toolbox. My dad used to buy

Craftsman tools from SEARS when I was young. They make

good stuff. I found this cool prying tool. Nothing

much, but I like to add to my tools.

I also found this rechargeable screwdriver/drill. I have

been on the lookout for a less expensive one of these and

I found it. $19.99. Good for small chores. Drilling little holes

and putting together bookcases and such. Anxious to try this too.

Do you love the smell of wood? Me too. That and dirt and Hoppe's.

And jasmine. And the mountains. I digress.

When I got out of SEARS it was getting kind of late

(by older people standards) and foggy too.

I have a 45 minute drive home so this will be it for

today's Extravaganza Adventure and extreme

buying of presents for myself. More to come!

It ain't over yet!