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!!!