The Solution

 SURPRISE!!!!  It was a NO BINGO night!!!  Can you believe it?  We all got a reprieve from the Magic Castle fun.  That's TWO in a row and it feels very weird.

First thing this morning ..... Ahmmmmmmm Ahmmmmmmm ... I was doing my morning meditation while trying to squeeze under the bed to retrieve the ball.  I'm so very well trained!!!  

Then it was outside in the rain.  Mr. Cooper has a timetable that is not up for discussion.  Wasn't I surprised when I found the temperature to be in the high 50's.  Quite nice actually!!

There was no other game playing however, since I had an appointment at the repair shop at 7:30.  Gosh golly gee ... that's EARLY for me.  Yes I get up at 4:00 every morning, but I don't leave the house until after 9:00 unless it's an emergency.

Here I am at 7:15, sitting in the waiting room.  This place has been in business for 20 years, so they must be doing something right.  They are actually the ones that put the big fuel tank on my truck.  And so I waited.

And waited ... and waited some more.  

Come to find out, the truck guy doesn't come in until 8:00.  But you said 7:30!!  They finally drove my truck into the stall at 8:15.  By 8:30 he was done.  YAY!!!  Or not .......  he thought the Boss should take a look.  I can't complain about that.

And so I waited another full hour before the boss took a look see.  It seems he was having trouble with their phone system.  I could feel my blood pressure rising.  I called ELVA!!!  Elva can talk me down off a cliff in no time.  I mean really, I was completely out of games to play on my phone!!

At long last the solution was to put new leaf springs on my truck, adjust the torsion bar as much as possible and realign everything.  A new torsion bar should be installed, but they are on back order for the next month or more.  All the while I was thinking NEW TRUCK, NEW TRUCK, NEW TRUCK.

And that's when the guy said he would buy a new truck, BUT they seem to be so cheaply made right now.  I thought about that ... that seems to have happened with lots of things, especially RV's.  In the last few years, parts and pieces have been made out of anything they could get their hands on due to lack of supply.   AND lack of good workers.  Quality is at an all time low.  That gave me pause.

I walked around the room for a few minutes and said okay ... let's fix it.  If nothing else, it will be a good selling point if I buy a new truck (selling my old one out right) and won't cost all that much.

I did not go look at a new truck.  I was afraid my head would explode when I saw that first salesman.  Instead, I went home and worked on this quilt yet again.  I got the top and bottom sewed on and added the first border.  There are three more to go.  Somebody else loves it too.

The solution to fixing this little tree escaped me.  My neighbor came and set it back up, but didn't plug it in.  I worked on spreading out the branches for a bit, but it's all so top heavy!  Add to that the section whose lights are not working at all, and it's a pretty sad little Charlie Brown Christmas tree.  

On the other hand, down the street is an amazing display of how to bankroll PG&E.  Woohoo!  In case you hadn't heard, since they have mandated so much solar in California, and encouraged everyone to install solar on their houses, it seems they are no longer making enough money to provide all the service and repair all the lines.  

Prices are going up another 20-25% in 2024.  They've declared bankruptcy once before and I see another one on the horizon.  Think about it ... I'm not paying them $3600 a year for electricity because I have solar and I'm just one house.  There are probably a million other homes doing the same thing.  That's a pretty big drop in income.  In the meantime, I am greatly enjoying the Christmas lights!!!

It's going to be a crazy day today.  Yes I plan on stopping by the Chevy dealership and pretending to look at a truck.  Then it's off to the Elks Lodge where four of us will prepare a Christmas dinner for 75-80 people at the local Senior's Home.  Ham, scalloped potatoes, veggies and all the fixings, followed up with apple pie.  It should be a fun day!!!