GOOD NEWS, BAD NEWS!

It was a pretty stressful day, as denoted by all those exclamation points.  I should have added about ten more.  Off to bed late, early to rise, spent half the day outside in the heat, then it was off to the Magic Kingdom for a long LONG night.  

But first ... let's check out the forecast.  Not looking so good at this point, and this is the conservative group of forecasters who usually get it somewhat right.  People are really freaking out because the IPhone weather app is saying upwards of 120.  Apparently we are flying closer to the sun this year.  I would love to see a depiction of the earths rotation 30 years ago versus now.

I was up really early since the Pump Guy said he would be here first thing.  That turned out to be 8:00 am. No time to get water in the RV, but I have half a case of water left over from my last trip.  No shower, but the kids got water and I at least got to brush my teeth ... for that big smile I gave the repair guys after they told me they might have to drill a new well to the tune of $10-15,000.  YIKES!!!

 

First they checked the controller.  Now it said "open load".  PULL THE PUMP sounded like OFF WITH THEIR HEADS to me!!  When they said "sorry", I knew I was in trouble.

And so they set up ... and took the top off.  We could smell the burn.  The wires were fried.  Well that's interesting.  It seems whoever was in there last (and I think it was one of their guys who insisted on measuring the water depth) used regular household wire connectors instead of commercial ones.  One melted, apparently shorting out and catching fire, which melted the second one completely.  

He repaired it all before continuing.  "Turn the breaker on" ... so I RAN all the way to the other side of the house ... and THANK THE GOOD LORD ... the controller had NO errors.  He said the pump was fine.  LET THERE BE WATER!  And there WAS!  No new well required.  What a relief.

It was short lived however, because the controller, although working intermittently, was toast.  Better that than a new well!  

And so I have water, but for the house only, and use it sparingly until they can order a new panel.  It can easily overheat he said and stop again.  At least I got a nice cold shower before Bingo!!  Of course since it's the Fourth of July tomorrow, and they are closed Friday, followed by the weekend, there will not be a controller any time soon.  So much for green lawns.

Off to Bingo I go.  It started out rather slow, which surprised us because we really crank up the AC.  Everyone comes out to play, just to stay cool.  There were 119 on this night, along with a lot of new folks who have never played before.  It takes a considerable amount of time to explain everything, making for unrest in the Castle.

Just to show you how much money rolls around, this lady bought $58.00 worth of bingo cards, and got $442.00 back in change, which she promptly dropped on pull tabs.  Pull tabs will pay from $500 up to $1199.  I don't think she won on this night.  It just boggles the mind.  We have a lot of young kids playing now too.  I might have done that when I was younger, but not now that I have bills to pay!!

It went along quite swimmingly until one of those young kids yelled Bingo before it's time.  The numbered ball shows up on monitors around the room.  Never EVER call bingo when you see it.  That number is called NEXT.  If you call too early, pandemonium erupts!  And erupt it did!!  It took ten minutes to calm everyone down as they were yelling NOT YET ... NOT YET.  

Okay ... NOW!!! as the next number was called.  Until he calls that number, you are NOT a winner winner!  The kid was pretty happy when they counted out $250 in front of him.  He probably went and bought more pull tabs because on this night we made a chunk for charity.  

In fact, Merced Elks Bingo just received a huge honor from the Central Valley as being the biggest donator to charity this year.  Lots of pomp and circumstance will follow (newspaper articles, a big fancy dinner) and we have to make a video about it.  That should be fun.

And so ended a VERY long stressful day.  I'll fill up the RV tank with water just in case.  With these temperatures, I'll be sticking close to home for the next week, hoping it cools off for my trip coming up.  I may have just become a fair weather traveler!!  

Hopefully that controller arrives before all my grass dies, keeping peace in the neighborhood.  I don't want to be THAT guy with the brown lawn.  

Stay cool ..................