The Macaroni Salad

Good morning sunshine!!  Even after the burning of 17,500 acres in the Sierras, we still don't have much smoke in the air.  It must all be going North.  As I sat and thought about the devastation, I've offered up my corrals to anyone who needs room for their critters.  With 21 structures and 34 outbuildings being burned to the ground, they are looking for places to move cattle, horses and any other livestock they can.  

Most of them are heading to the fairgrounds in the foothills, where one of the big dairies down here donated over two ton of hay to feed them.  High fives to them.  At this time it's 16% contained.  

Instantly my mind heads right on over to the Magic Kingdom.  Oh yes, it's time for another rousing round of BINGO!!  What could be better to wile away the hours than arguing with the peasants or trying to remove their spears, pitchforks and flaming torches.  The din can be deafening.

Somehow we hit the jackpot with volunteers.  The Knights and Ladies of the Round Table are most often in short supply.  Maybe they intuitively knew there was macaroni salad being thrown together in the kitchen.  Not particularly good salad, as it was lacking in sufficient mayo to keep from drinking a bottle of water while chomping it down.  Still ... it was a diversion from the normal fare.  It disappeared completely.

Never let it get out that I said sometimes we have TOO much help.  It means I sit back and chat rather than concentrate on my job.  

Apparently the peasants liked the macaroni salad also, as it seemed to calm the calamity of a new Piglet game.  At $3.00 a card (about twice the size of your phone), they waved them around to sounds of despair until one of them hit the jackpot.  $300 was doled out.  No, I don't know why it's called Piglet other than the picture of a smiling pig on the front, something akin to those cartoons of old.  Anyone remember Porky Pig???

Time passed slowly as I fended off the you-didn't-give-me-my-ticket folks, all of whom found their tickets in either their wallet or their pocket.  For some weird reason there were no fist fights on this night.  It must have been the macaroni salad.  

The only minor disturbance happened when I was again accused of not giving them the cards they paid for.  I never touch the cards ... they are counted by my cohort as I punch in the numbers.  Please check your cards before you leave the table is my mantra, which I say maybe 50 times a night.  

Since that apparently didn't happen, I asked for the receipt, which always tells the tale.  In this case, she didn't buy ANY of those cards, and came back red-faced to purchase three of them.  She probably didn't eat any macaroni salad.  

And so the night ended as I rang out the infernal machine, who insisted I was $100 off.  Big sigh ... that means recounting and recounting five stacks of $1.00 bills, some with half their faces gone.   I know not how that happens, unless it's become a talisman on the table.  Yes it's true.  One of these days I'll sneak around and take pictures.  There's everything from buttons to baby pictures, and throw in a Saint or two for good measure.

Finally I discovered I had counted out the last jackpot incorrectly.  It must have been the macaroni salad.  Once corrected, I balanced.  YAHOO!!  Not as good as a nice long horseback ride, but it was good none the less.

I was rather bleary eyed this morning, not even sure what day it was.  What I do know is that company is coming.  Maybe vacuuming the house will set my brain in gear.  Or MAYBE I should make some macaroni salad!!!