The Magic Land Of Bingo

 It's 82 degrees this morning at 4:30 ... not the kind of day I like to wake up to.  I'm pretty bleary eyed and could definitely use more sleep!

I thought it was weird that I kept having to turn the AC down more and more yesterday afternoon.  I'm usually comfortable at 80 degrees.  I think it was too much of that lovely air conditioned house in Salt Lake City that spoiled me.  

I spent most of the morning unloading the rig.  GEE ... only TWO wagon loads and a few extras.  That's one for the record books.  I'm liking this minimalist camping a lot!!  Even better, I like not having to cook!!  Those chicken pot pies are now my go-to!!!

Of course the house is a wreck, with stuff stacked all over everywhere.  It will have to wait.  It's time for the Magic Castle.

My Fairy Godmother waved her magic wand and VOILA!!  My station was ready to go.  She even made two huge bags of nuts appear out of nowhere.  Roasted almonds and walnuts for my baking pleasure.  You've got to love help like that!!

In no time we were off and running.  It was nice to have so many folks say they were glad I was back, even if some never missed me at all.  "You were gone???"  

It didn't take long however for the pitchforks to appear!!  Just like THAT I heard loud voices and bad words.  It seems someone got a little too close to the stack of bingo packets before their turn.  Oh the words did fly!!  

Ladies ....... please!!!  There was no stopping them.  The expletives got louder and louder as I tried to concentrate on the one in front of me.  I was waiting for the first punch to be thrown.  There was maybe two seconds when it was quiet ... and I thought it was over ... but NO.  Someone had to make just one more comment.  

The call went out for the Knights to come to the rescue.  I rang up the first one as fast as I could and off she went.  The second one kept up the rhetoric the entire time she was at the table.  Just STOP I said and pointed my finger, which never phased ANYONE before!  She was bigger than me, but I was closer to the exit if I had to run!!  

The Knights did their job well and I never heard from the ladies again.  Instead, I had two more come up and complain that someone was sharing cards.  That's a no-no ... and so the night went from one disgruntled player to another.  I think it was the heat, though it was so cold inside the building that folks went OUTSIDE to warm up.

The best part of all?  NO MORE RED TICKETS!!  Woohoo!!  No more counting out 130, tearing them in half, then tearing the tickets individually.  Many were disappointed, but Nancy was a happy camper, even though I kept reaching for the place in the cash register where they used to live.  

Here's two of our lovely Castle Decorators/Money Changers who work the other side of Bingo ... the pull tabs.  We had a little bit of a problem at the end of the night.  Someone won the $250 prize (there's one to every box sold) but never came to collect the money.  That's beyond weird!!  The money was saved in case they find that winning ticket on the way home.

The infernal machine was nice to me on this night, though the mini machine caused some problems.  Folks like our fee-free cash back option.  The problem with that is I run out of cash to make the payouts.  Sure enough ... this week I was $800 short.  No worries, I borrow from the two ladies above.  It all goes in the same pot anyway.

Otherwise, the infernal machine came out to the penny, in spite of over 60 dollars in change.  You can imagine just how happy the King was at having to count all THAT!!

I walked out the door at 9:30 and it was still 100 degrees.  I have to admit, I cannot remember when it was ever this hot all night long.  We must be edging towards the sun a little further.  In spite of the 85 degree forecast, we continue to be at 100 with 80 degree nights.  That doesn't bode well for my electric bill, though I do have some news about that.  I'll share tomorrow.

Keep cool if you can .....................