Oh yeah .... it's back to 68 degrees this morning. That should cut down my 916 kWh of electricity for one month to something more normal. Okay probably not, so let's make it all better by having TWO cups of fake coffee this morning!! It was a late might at Bingo and I'm already yawning!
The day went well. I think I only scratched this ant bite 26 times instead of the normal 35. To make it worse, it's right under my watchband. I've thrown everything I've got at it with no change. I received the replacement box of seed yesterday, but I put on gloves and opened it outside. I wasn't taking any chances.
It was garbage day ... how fun is that? ... so I gathered up everything I could. It's interesting to note that I am the only house in the middle of six that has garbage service. Seriously, what do these people do with their garbage? There are a minimum of four people in each house. Do they know something I don't? Do they eat it?? It just fascinates me, especially when I know the amount of trash "I" have!
On the way back, I stopped at the mail box. That's a rarity for me nowadays since I have everything marked paperless. Sorry, it's not because I'm trying to save the trees, it's more because the Post Office has raised their P. O. Box rate to $390 a year.
It didn't help ... that part where they were broken in to not once, but TWICE and never contacted me. Wasn't I surprised to find this lovely letter from the Attorney General of California. It's notifying me that all of my personal information ... name, age, gender, address and other essential data I won't mention ... was made public for a period of 24 hours. In fact, the list was downloaded many thousands of times.
They tried to say social security numbers were not included, but I don't believe them. That's the main identification system for this file. They said the personnel who were responsible would be "addressed", whatever that means. Hopefully fired, but that won't really help once the horse is out of the barn. I see lots of repercussions over this one!! No surprise though ... that's California government.
At last it was time to head out to the Castle to see what the peasants were fighting about this time. There was almost a knock-down-drag-out fight about who gets to enter the building first. Members can come in early and stake their claim on a seat. Everyone else has to wait.
That brings out the pitchforks and torches when someone enters who the peasants think is NOT a member. The howls could be heard clear upstairs. I have learned to keep my nose to the Pepsi and not venture out until my appointed time.
It actually wasn't TOO bad on this night. The bingo machine has a screw loose that makes it shut down occasionally, followed by frantic wire wiggling. If he's lucky, the Caller gets it going in a few seconds. Like the infernal machine, on this night it threw a fit and refused to spit out the little balls. The cat calls were loud enough to wake the dead.
With it finally working again, everyone was good for all of five seconds when someone didn't yell Bingo loud enough. If the caller doesn't hear you and he calls the next number, you lose. Yup ... that's the rules. It doesn't matter who heard you whisper the magic word, you STILL lose.
As much as Bingo players are all about THEIR lucky charms, they are even MORE adamant when you don't give the pot of gold to the player who was too meek to scream. In a flash, we were twenty minutes behind schedule. That doesn't bode well for me who has been up since 4:00 in the morning.
It didn't help that we were short handed. The Castle Knights have figured out they can come in early, set up and then leave by 7:00. Only one more poor scullery maid ran around for three hours paying out Bingos. No worries, she was highly compensated with a package of M&M's. It's the sugar that keeps us going.
At last I too was able to sneak out the back door to the screams and chanting of CALL THE NEXT NUMBER!!! You never want to make a mistake or call too slow. After all, the Peasants have rules too!!
Here's something interesting I discovered. Everyone in this neighborhood has purchased swamp coolers and stuck them in their bedrooms. Apparently I'm not the only one who doesn't use their AC. I'm not sure I could stand the noise, but it's a thought!!! Oh and one other thing ... my last bill did not include the last two weeks of 106 weather. I expect my next bill will be in the $500 range. Literally everything just got turned off!!!
Is 792 kWh a day correct? We are in the high 90's and run A/C at 74 during the day and 69 at night. Just got a bill and our total kWh for the month was 1862 at an average daily cost of 9.41. I understand that kWh cost would be different but appliances use the same amount of electricity no matter where they are located and you are using in 2-1/2 days what we use all month.
ReplyDeleteThe was for one month. My usual is about 500 kWh. This was because I turned on the air for an hour in the morning to cool things down. I rarely use appliances, sticking mostly to the microwave.
DeleteYou need to get back in your RV and gain some altitude and find some trees. I use about 0.4 kW-hr of total electricity per day in my trailer. The marginal price is zero since it comes from solar panels on the roof of the camper trailer. A simple fan does for cooling. Who needs an air conditioner?
ReplyDeleteIt's crazy, right? And yes ... it probably would be cheaper to head to the mountains somewhere. I'm just waiting for the electric company to start giving me credit for the solar.
DeleteMr Ed says he agrees with gaining altitude.$$ 👎👎
ReplyDeleteAt least the Attorney General has put himself on notice and now you know who You’re lawyer can Sue ..
. Swamp coolers work really great the problem with them is the outside humidity and the thickness of the Celsia pad the thick of it pad the better they are the lower the humidity the better they are in Arizona they were great very low humidity. The only disadvantage is if you have hard water that has a tendency to build up overtime which only means you replace the pads every spring..
If you’ve got less than 50% humidity in California/your area,,,, they’ll work good
I remember our old cooler at the ranch. I imagine they make them better now!!!
DeleteCould your neighbours be bringing their trash to a drop off depot or finding Trash Bins at local restaurants? It will cost them more then the monthly fee.
ReplyDeleteBe Safe stay cool and Enjoy!
It's about time.
That's very possible is guess, but weirdly, I never see them putting anything in their vehicles (which are all parked outside). No telling!!
DeleteThat bite looks horrible! Hopefully it gets better quickly. Almost 400 for a mail box GEEZ..Can't even imagine. Talk about price gouging! I've been thinking we need to get out to cooler temps, but where?
ReplyDeleteI think the price gouging has only begun!!!
DeleteI'm not sure how long we will keep our PO Box. Some stuff goes to the box, some to the condo. We have a smaller box but still, the cost is up there for sure.
ReplyDeleteI would go for a smaller box, but they would fill it completely with newspaper ads, then charge me more for overfilling the box. Hopefully that doesn't happen to my mailbox!
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