You KNOW Where I Was

Once again, the Magic Kingdom arose out of the shadows, played all the games and disappeared into the night.  That's a good thing.

I spent the better part of the morning looking for Cooper's toys in my closet.   I think I said before, he's fanatic about his toy balls.  There are so many around the house in various stages of disintegration that I picked up a wicker basket just for them.

He knows where he "stores" them, usually under something where he can't reach.  My antique armoir, the kitchen stove and my bedroom closet are his favorite places.  When he decides he wants one, he barks ... loud enough to make your ears ring ... until I finally get up and go get it for him.  He has me well trained.

Yesterday he was barking at the closet door.  I found nothing.  He continued to bark until I returned to the scene of the crime, got down on my hands and knees and looked some more ... to no avail.  Thirty minutes later, he was STILL barking.  Cooper is never wrong.  If he says there's a ball there, believe me, he is ALWAYS right.  It just takes the HUMAN longer to find it than it takes the DOG.

Can you find the ball?  I'm not sure if Cooper was weird before I got him or if "I" made him that way.  Yup .... he hid his fabulous stinky, wet, chewed-up, half-the-cover-missing ball in my good running shoes.  His second favorite place is in my cowboy boots.  He got the ball, I closed the closet door.

I waited as late as possible to head to the Magic Kingdom, as I had fair warning most of the castle guards would not be present.  I put it off until the very last minute.  The group meeting in the bar before heading downstairs to the masses was a short one with only three of us present.  I fortified myself with a round of popcorn.

It's not a problem really .... I've handled the entire sales table by myself in the past, counting AND collecting tribute presented by the peasants.  Luckily at the last minute, not one but TWO gals came to help out.

Lots of new people showed up since one of the other big games in the County is shut down for the summer.  To make it even MORE fun, this is the third Tuesday, meaning there is no money in the peasants leather purses.  Alas, they have cracked the piggy banks of their children and grandchildren in order to play extra speed coverall games.  When you're trying to rush 120 people through the sales table and they've got handfuls of change, it can be a challenge.

In the past, I never counted it until they left the table.  No more gambling on the correct amount friends ... I've been shorted too many times, even with your guarantee it was absolutely, positively correct!!  Hope springs eternal that the embarrassment of holding up the line will keep them from the piggy banks, but so far that's not happening!!

The good news .... everyone yelled BINGO really loud so no one missed out ... there were no knock down drag out cat fights on the floor (yes, it's happened before) and everyone went home happy, especially me since I balanced the infernal machine.  Next week is payday for most, so the remaining intact piggy banks should be safe.

Here's an interesting piece of sculpture for you.  Sorry for the blurry picture.  I was trying to be surreptitious.   Not that it mattered, because my friend would have gladly let me capture this interesting piece.  Isn't it cool?  Maybe not if you aren't a fixit-gadget-machine type of person, but I LOVE it.  I think I would rather put some kind of clock in the middle, or maybe even make a lamp out of it.  Tom Westerfield can do this in a heartbeat!!  He can probably even tell you what every single gauge did in it's prior life.  If you have a bunch of gauges you want to get rid of, give me a shout out!!

Today I hope to be off for Morgan Hill.  I know .... UGH, freeways!!  It's over-the-hill so to speak and probably an hour or two drive away, but it's the closest needlepoint store I can find for supplies to complete the four canvases I have.  Least that's my plan.  After a late night of bingo and an early morning of puppy, I may lose my momentum.  It is a beautiful sunny day ... so hopefully that will keep me motivated.