FIRE! FIRE!!!

 Well well well.  There I was, sitting on the patio listening to the lovely bird sounds.  Anyone know what this is?  Because I never did SEE him.

Suddenly I got a call.  FIRE AT THE ELKS LODGE!  You know how it goes, if it can happen around me, it does.  At 6:30 am the fire alarm went off, and thanks to the Fire Department, who only lives two blocks away, the fire was put out in record time.  They said they think it was a homeless person.  

I really doubt that!  We have had homeless sleeping all around the lodge at night, and never in my 15 years, have we ever had a fire.  We DO have two VERY disgruntled employees who got fired.  I'm asking for an investigation.

So the first thing I did was notify the Lodge officers who I thought would know what they were doing, and asked them to go down and see what the damage was.  Knowing there was no way the Fire Department or the City would let us continue with our events, I cancelled everything for the entire week.  Too bad because we had two big events that are going to cost us a bundle.

Of course I'm sick as a dog to boot.  It's not allergies, but possibly the worst cold I've ever had.  I haven't been able to breathe through my nose in 24 hours, let alone think straight.  When the Fire Department was done, I had our guys call around and find the closest fire clean-up specialist.  The smoke went all the way to the top floor, so you can imagine what it smells like.  

Next ... call the insurance company, who was closed.  Unfortunately in order to afford the insurance, we have a $10,000 deductible.  Oh that's not good!

Here's the worst part ... one wall of the lunchroom.  Thankfully it did not get in the ceiling, nor the kitchen, or our main dining room.  It looks bad, but the Fire Department had to rip off the walls to be sure no fire remained.  I lightened the picture on my computer, and it looks like the 2 x 4's did not burn at all.

Luckily the arsonist wasn't good at his assumed profession.  The outside doors remained intact, as did most of the wall.  The black hole is from the firemen.  So all in all, it's not TOO terrible.

On the other hand, I think I died three times on the couch between all the phone calls.  Being sick is not helping at all.

And so today I'll be down at the Lodge checking out the damage, getting the City to do their Fire Inspection so we can reopen, and locate a contractor to rebuild.   The cleanup crew has already been scheduled.  Well that was fun!!

Mr. Cooper and I finally went out to lay in the sun to warm up.  The sneezing has been epic once again, so we came back inside to cuddle with the Kleenex box.

I'll let you know how it goes tomorrow.  The bookkeeper and I have to get the two week payroll done and mailed out.  The good news?  NO BINGO ... WE HAVE NO BINGO, possibly for TWO weeks.  WOOHOO!!!!!  It's going to be a nice vacation!!