DID YOU PAY YOUR TAXES?

 It's tax day!  I think the most hated day in the year.  I'm not one who appreciates giving away 30% of their hard earned wages to the government, who sends it to other countries for nonsensical outrageous reasons, only for the politicians to receive kickbacks to their campaign coffers.  THERE ... I said it!!

Now I can get on with my day.  As you can tell by the castle, it's MAGIC BINGO TIME!

My first discovery of the day was how the rain and wind pretty much destroyed my roses.  Not as beautiful as before, but they still cover up most of the view of the house next door.  Lucky for the neighborhood, we have not had any loud awful parties ..... YET!

Speaking of LOUD ... this girl can purr louder than any cat I've ever been around.  It's constant to boot.  The entire time she sits on the arm of the couch, she is purring ... a hint to drag out the dog brush and give her a go.  That ends up in a huge pile of kitty hair.  Patooey!!!  With a few that get in my mouth!  Thankfully Mr. Cooper does not mind sharing ... the brush OR the hair.

In no time at all, like I think it was 20 minutes, it was time to head out to Bingo.  The King would be there eventually, but the best of the best Knight who helps me set things up, is in Austria.  How lucky is HE?  

Right off the bat ... trouble raised its head.  Maybe not trouble, but bad judgement.  The kitchen crew, including the Lodge Manager, each had a bite of chicken wing with hot sauce.  Not ANY hot sauce, but FLATLINE sauce.  That's worse than ghost peppers.  They were running around like crazy, grabbing ice for their mouth, hiccuping and not able to speak!  I just laughed!!!  They were beet red with sweat running down their faces.  I guess they will know better next time. 

I raced around getting the bingo machine hooked up and turned on.  Funny ... it kept beeping at me and would not save the changes I made.  Well there was a good reason for that ... I did not plug in the main power cord.  BIG SIGH!!  I started all over from scratch.  

Finally set up, I raced upstairs to sign checks.  Then I started watching the doorway for my bingo crew.  I had not heard from anyone whether they would show up or not.

At long last I got two girls to cashier and count, since I had to assume the Missing Knight's duties.  I read off a couple of winning numbers and paid out money until my counter had to leave.  Surprisingly, the players were MUCH easier to get along with than one volunteer.  

Sometimes you get that one person who just will not do as they are asked, no matter what you say.  An argument ensued when she refused to give us the number of the game just played.  It's the only way we can double check to be sure we are paying out the correct amount.  If I had not been the one to ask her the game numbers, she probably would have told the cashier.  But NO ... she had to start an argument.  

I said fine, and took over HER job too.  She wasn't too pleased about that, but if you don't follow the rules and overpay a player, you cannot go take it back.  So it wasn't the peasants who brought out their spears and flaming torches ... it was a volunteer.  

This is the back room where all the REAL money is made, that which we donate to charities all around our county.  This time it was the Burn Center, a hospital who takes kids to a camp in the mountains every year.  Now THAT is a great charity in my book!

At the end of the night, the Infernal Machine did its thing.  We were $20.00 off.  We fixed it, only to find out AFTER clearing out the machine, the cashier had not added up the amounts correctly.  Too late ... the machines brain has already been erased.  It WON once again!!  I think the odds now are 231 to 3.

And so ended a late night at the Magic Castle.  Frustration reigned most of the night, but that's how the bingo ball rolls!!

Back to April 15th, due to it being tax day, I will be working on what else ... TAXES accounting ... all morning!!  I'll be glad when this day is over!