Friday, May 22, 2020

The Magic Kingdom Rides Again

For those fairly new readers, which I appreciate most highly, I am quite involved with the Magic Kingdom of Elks Bingo.  It has all the parts and pieces you would imagine including a castle with a huge drawbridge, massive amounts of peasants, a King of course, the Knights of the Round Table, a Castle Lawyer, Prince Charming (my personal favorite) and of course me, the Castle Accountant.

There's also a Jester and the infernal machine, better known as the cash register that refuses to work and a mini-me cash register who causes all kinds of pain for us all, but mostly me.  On the other hand, Bingo makes many thousands of dollars every year for charities from kids baseball to the Children's Hospital to Veterans Services.

They have been shut down since March 17 or so.  No problem for the nineteen volunteers that run the whole shebang every Tuesday night, in fact I think they are happy for a break.  On the other hand, the peasants are going into withdrawal big time and want to be back at the tables with their talisman good luck charms.

To that end, we had a meeting.  It's a test ... how many volunteers?  That's right, nineteen.  How many showed up at the meeting?  Eight, although twelve RVSP'd.  No problem, it makes the meeting much shorter and to the point.
Here's the thing.  We have a small building.  There is no way we could get even 50 people in there, each 6 feet apart.  Worse than that, who wants to come and pay $40-100 for bingo cards, only to win $50.  They want the big bucks .. the usual $5,000-7,000 we give away every Bingo night.  

When the idea of "employees" wearing masks came up, it got shot down faster than Billy Clanton at the OK corral.  You have to remember this is a small farming community where you only wear a mask if you are holding up the bank.

Therefore .... be it known that the Magic Kingdom will not ride again until July 1st (or thereabouts).  I did not tell them I will be back in Arizona in July since the California DMV is canceling my rig registration because they do not like my Arizona insurance company.  No refunds of course ... that's the penalty of changing the insurance to my Arizona address in order to save $2,900 for one year.  I have to get back to Arizona in order to register the rig and Jeep THERE.

Looking for a little diversion, I spotted a recipe for beignets on the internet.  The good thing is they are not fried, but baked.  Of course my first thought was "they CAN'T taste the same".  So I followed the directions and whipped up a batch.  

I let them raise in the oven, having turned it on for 30 seconds, then shut it off.  OH NO ... too hot!  I opened the door and waved a towel madly to cool it off.  They puffed up nicely.  This just might turn out to be a GREAT recipe!
I believe in magic and make believe, but I just couldn't make believe hard enough for these to REALLY taste like beignets.  I even doused them with sugar TWICE, just to see if it might make a difference.  It did not.  They taste like bread with powdered sugar on it.  Epic FAIL!!
In my neighborhood we have lots of magpies and crows.  I'm sure they will appreciate these much more than I and much more than the garbage they are used to eating.  Hey, it's better than the cemetery, which is getting rather full at this point in time.

Today is another fund raiser from the Lodge Kitchen, where I will be working to package up to-go boxes of barbecued chicken, pasta, salad and rolls.  Like everyone else, we've got bills to pay.



12 comments:

  1. Once King Gavin, Nancy's favorite nephew, forces all the tax paying people to move out of the Golden Land, who is going to pay for the King's salary????

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    1. THAT is the question of the day. Honestly, I have no idea because people are moving out in droves.

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  2. Oh too bad about the beignets, they look good though. Maybe cut them in half and add some jam to them ? To go boxes sound yummy!

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    1. Jam ... that's the secret!! I bet they would be much better with jam!! Thanks Shirley!

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  3. My sister and her friend were discussing Bingo. They are anxious for Bingo to start up again but Vegas bingo is a different animal. I wished I could have ordered a couple of meals. That sounded good!

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    1. I'm wondering when the casinos in Vegas will reopen. Must be weird for that to be a ghost town.

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  4. Sorry, I hope this doesn't come across as confrontational because that's now how it's intended, but at this point in time I just can't get on board with this push-back against wearing masks when in close proximity of others.

    While we don't know everything about Corona it seems pretty clear that our current level of understand is that the primary means of transmitting the virus, from both symptomatic as well as asymptomatic people. is, in order of less to most, from breathing, talking, and especially singing the virus (Look at the clusters that have been traced back to open worship services) into the air to be inhaled by someone else before it has a chance to be rendered non-infectious. And simple science shows that masks successfully contain the majority of the virus-laden particles expelled during these activities.

    I understand freedom and the need to guard it closely, and yes I served, way back in the dark ages before we called it that, but with freedom also comes responsibility.

    That's why we tolerate a number of restrictive laws, such as those that force us to dress to a certain level of societal "decency", and these laws include reckless endangerment which prohibits us from engaging in, and I quote, "conduct that creates a substantial risk of serious physical injury or death to another person"

    I personally would classify having my lungs potentially scared and rendered less effective by the virus as a physical injury. And yes, sometimes the virus kills.

    It's uncomfortable, but when I do have to interact with people, here in my rural ranching community, I wear a mask to reduce the chance of me being the cause of someone else's pain and injury. And I actively avoid those not wearing masks in an attempt to take personal responsibility for protecting myself.


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    1. That's the point ... taking personal responsibility for yourself. We should all be able to decide what risks we can afford to take. I wouldn't parachute out of an airplane, but many people do and a lot of them die. The government already has so many restrictive laws it seems to be getting out of control, not to mention the fact that it's being used as a political tool by governors. From what I've read, the masks aren't really helping that much anyway, other than keeping people from touching their faces ... except they do as they adjust it nine times so they can breathe and completely forget to wash the thing. I rather choose to just stay farther away from people as much as possible.

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  5. Sorry to read the beignets did not live up to the fact that they look like little pillows of deliciousness...:(
    Wow $2900 a year saved on your insurance that is a nice amount. To bad about the Magic Kingdom Bingo especially since it supports several charities. Sad for the pheasants, also. I am always catching up, beautiful quilt. Take care.

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    1. Yup ... I was a happy camper on the insurance. Maybe maple syrup would make those beignets better! LOL

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  6. I am with you on the mask thing. If you want to wear one, great. If you don't, you shouldn't have to nor should anyone judge you. But you already know that is going to happen.

    The beignets looked great, I was so hoping that you were going to say they tasted great as well as I would love to have Barb try her hand at them! Keep trying!

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    1. Next time I'll try those beignets FRIED! Then I'm SURE they will be good!!

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