Another Episode of The Magic Castle

 Is it a full moon?  I know I ask that question every Tuesday night ... but really, is it a full moon?  It sure FELT like a full moon.  Maybe it was the solar flare.  Please don't tell me THAT affects Bingo!  There's already enough stuff for a LIFETIME, let alone adding on to the confusion!

It's a lovely 61 degrees this morning.  I think that's why I sleepeth NOT.  I arrived home at 10:30 and was still wide awake at 2:30.  I finally gave up at 5:30.  I was COLD.  Can you believe it?  I may just have to put a blanket back on the bed!!

I arrived at the Magic Castle of Bingo just in time to be confronted with a few problems.  It's like that every week.  We got our electric true-up bill for the month and it was a whopper!  Now finally able to check our output via an app on my phone, I looked at two months ago versus now.  Oh yeah ... that solar panel cleaning is going to be dramatic.  At least I HOPE it will.  Otherwise, we are going to have to get creative and print our own money!  Just kidding!!  

The keeper of the thermostat will be admonished to do a better job!!

Next I tracked down two Knights of the Round Table (in the upstairs bar) to ask a favor.  If I buy the lumber, can you cut pieces so I can make this?  I need a doggie ramp in the RV for Cooper.  I would just buy this one, but they range from $79 to $179 and it's too wide.  

They jumped right on it and completely redesigned the project into a foldable very complicated version.   When I walked away, they were still talking about it ... and completely redesigned a THIRD version by nights end.  You've got to love those helpful Knights.  I'll be working on this as soon as I get exact measurements.  That should be fun, yes?  A female with a skill saw! 

Next up, the Bookkeeper tracked me down to say she had a carload of quilts to give me.  Apparently she was cleaning out her mother's house to discover piles of quilts handmade by her grandmother.  I mean original ... all stitched by HAND ... quilts, from scrap fabric.  My Jeep now runneth over with the lovely smell of OLD.  That's why they are still in the Jeep!!  I'll get them out into the sun today and take a few pictures.

As for the Magic Castle ... I started out on the wrong foot.  I was too distracted by a couple of problems that kept my brain screaming for the first hour.  I counted the cash wrong right off the bat, followed by the Infernal Machine running out of paper in spite of me checking it twice like Santa Claus.  That brought out the pitchforks since the line became slower than usual.

We again had new folks who think it's your straight-line kids Bingo.  You should see their eyes get big when they see how the games are actually played.  In no time we were off to the races.  I put fives in the TEN DOLLAR slot and twenties in the FIVE.  I KNOW it's a full moon.  

Things went along as smoothly as can be expected until a man and his wife showed up, having heard about our dungeon fun and games.  Since they were new players, we went through all the explanations.  You both have to buy in.  She's blind he stated.  Oh ... okay, then she can sit with you while you play ... for the minimum $20.00.  

An hour later I looked over to see her dark glasses on her head, looking intently at his cards.  Wait ... isn't she blind?  She was even pointing at the numbers.  Pretty soon he caught sight of me looking, gave her THE LOOK and she instantly put her glasses back on.  Ummmmm what's going on here?  Maybe she can see after all?  

You see ... or maybe not ... it's a rule that if you are in the building, you have to play.  You cannot just sit and watch.  Unfortunately there's no way to prove it one way or the other, so they were allowed to stay this time.  

The infernal machine hassled me all night long with things like Received on Account instead of a payout.  Those are really hard to fix.  In no time I had a big mess trying to balance.  I was $200 off.  Lucky for me, I discovered the abacus I was using had a flaw.  It was the user of course.  Once I gave it a good whack on the side, it balanced perfectly!!  I literally RAN out the door.

There definitely won't be much going on this morning.  If I'm lucky, I'll fall asleep after breakfast and catch up on the ZZZZZ's I missed last night.

Here's a picture of Jonathan since he doesn't get to make an appearance very often.  He's actually sleeping.  You can see his eye is weird ... cataracts I suspect.  He can't see very well any more, which is why most birds don't live this long.  Once they can't see, they get eaten in the wild.

Besides the doggie ramp build ... I have to find some lumber first ... THIS will be my project of the day.  I tried to get a picture of the battery bulge on this old computer.  I looked online to find directions on how to take it apart.  It should be an easy thing to do.  I'll take out the hard drive and toss the rest.  

There really are a ton of pictures on here that I would like to save, including all of my Alaska pictures.  Yes I put them on an external hard drive, but it crashed and burned several years ago.  Nothing electronic lasts forever I guess.

And so I wish you a cool end-of-summer day.  School starts here this week.  Aren't you glad you don't have to deal with THAT any more?