THE END ...... FOR NOW!

 Thank goodness I'm seeing the end of Hurricane Milton cross over Florida.  He was one angry dude, so mad that he brought all his tornado buddies with him.  I'm now hoping to hear good news from Dave, Marcia and everyone else headed home.  Sady, after TWO big hurricanes, there may not be a home left.  I just cannot imagine.  My prayers go out to each and every one.

That's what I was thinking as I crawled up the stairs at the Elks Lodge.  Since the back entrance goes into the basement, it's a 2.5 story trip to the office.  If it was only once, it would be a blessing.  Yesterday I had to make SIX trips up and down.  It's good for the lungs and legs I tell myself.  

The pretty window is from Everett Elks Lodge (the number escapes me) from 1901.  I've no idea how we ended up with it.

I really like "busy".  It was not on this day.  I answered the phone a few times, an antiquated system of bad connections and echos making it impossible to hear.  When I told the bookkeeper it was Mad Bond on the phone, she said OH ... that's MARATHON!!  My secretary skills are not what they used to be, nor is my hearing with crackling in the handset.

I did a few minor things, played games on my phone, got the mail, played games on my phone, called folks to tell them we had the prizes they had won, played more games.  In other words, not much!!

I finally headed on down to order early lunch.  If you are ever in this area Monday to Thursday, stop in and have some great food.  I should have remembered to take the picture earlier.  This is a green chili chicken sandwich that I will order every single time from now on.  Grilled chicken, a huge piece of green chili, smothered in cheese, along with all the fixings AND an amazing mayo-tomato sauce to pour on top.  Add those huge perfectly cooked onion rings and I was in Heaven.  $13.00 including tax.

It's so big, this is what I brought home for dinner.

After that, I hid out in this room for awhile waiting for the mail.  It's not good for everyone to walk into the office and see the secretary playing even MORE games on her phone.  There are two walls like this, with pictures of every person who has led the Lodge from the day it began.  Yes, these are all men, but when the rules changed, so did the pictures to include women.  They are covering the opposite wall.

At long last it is THE END of work ... for now.  I snuck out the door to be chauffeured by my friend (in her Porche) to pick up my van.  She is 75 years old and it's a manual transmission.  She is German and obviously used to driving the Autobon!!!  I've never met any other woman who likes to drive fast like I do!!  We had a blast!!

There was good news and bad news when she dropped me off.  

The GOOD:  They could not find one single thing wrong with the propane system.  No leaks whatsoever.  So just HOW did I lose 6 gallons of propane from the tank after running the generator twice for about 15 minutes each?  They pressure checked it twice, did a couple of other tests and NOTHING.

This MIGHT have been the culprit, but no one really knows.  This is the bleed valve (in the middle with the red) for the propane system.  Maybe it wasn't tight?  Coming looser from all those rough roads I drove on?  It's the only possible thing and I DID smell propane several times when walking by that area.  It's on my list to check now, every time I head out.

The BAD:  They could not find one single thing wrong with the propane system.  That meant I had to pay for it myself.  As for the dead chassis battery, there's a lot of parasitic things running all the time that will kill it in about 3 weeks they tell me.  Never heard of such a thing, so here's my next question.

Will the chassis battery charge if I have it plugged in?  That seems to run the inverter literally constantly, which I don't think is a good thing.  If I turn the inverter off, will it STILL charge the chassis battery?  SO MANY QUESTIONS!!  And yes, I'm ordering a solar trickle charger to keep hooked up when it's parked.  Not sure that's good for it either ..... but I think that's a solution.   Shhhhh she's asleep!!

I was exhausted when I got home.  It was a long day with too much sitting, which makes things ache.  Still, I'm happy to have a place to come home to when so many do not right now.  Kind of a long drive Dave, but the Kissack Hotel is always available. 

As for here, I think Mother Nature is finally over the hot flashes ... we have a lovely 62 degrees this morning with highs around 80 for the next week.  It's about time girlfriend!!!!!