THE MAGIC CASTLE IS OPEN

 Here we are once again ... it's Magic Castle time.  Not the enchanting place it used to be, but it was considerably better last night with a new Boss for the evening.  Things went well for the first three hours of our night, since we actually start setting up at 2:00.

But first ... I had to do something to get the day started, and Kitters kept knocking stuff off the coffee table.  By the way, I was awakened at 4:35 this morning by a tapping of paw on my arm and a quiet little mew.  NOOOOO that's not allowed.  Go eat or something!

Next up was a request for some of my old pictures, which of course still live on not two, but THREE other computers.  Thankfully they all still work.  So a quick trip to Walmart was in order to pick up six thumb drives ... the BIG ones.  

It didn't take terribly long to transfer all my low res blog pictures to just one drive.  That's when I decided to transfer the photoshop images.  That is taking forever, but at least I will have most all of them on thumb drives for later use. 

With that almost accomplished, I gussied up for the trip to Bingo.  It's pretty much my only contact with the human race.  It was like the old days.  The kitchen gals and I had lots of laughs.  It was good for my soul.  

There was one oops when the kid who volunteered to make the peach cobbler we sold for dessert, forgot how it's made.  Apparently WATCHING it be made and MAKING it are two different things.  He forgot the brown sugar cinnamon on top.  It's warm I said ... pour it on and stick it back in the still warm oven for a few minutes.  Maybe not the best (it needed more peaches), but not bad since we sold out.

Because I was working with my all time favorite handyman on this night, we all had a great time.  Unfortunately he played limp-along since he just had knee surgery, which turned into knee replacement, a big infection and probably MORE surgery because no one thinks that doctor did it correctly.  YIKES!  I'm glad my only big problem was the van smog!!

There were a few slings and arrows, mostly from the experienced crowd dealing with the newbies.  At least none of them were aimed at the volunteers on this night.  

The good news is they didn't even flinch when I said NO TAPPING once again.  We give cash back, so at least half of the crowd pays with their debit card.  No credit cards allowed.  We did allow tapping last week until I found out it ran every debit card through as a credit card and charged us 3.6% interest on every one.  It's much less with a debit card.

So in spite of me saying NO TAPPING once again (and explaining why), they didn't complain much at all.    There must be something in the air!!  It smelled like skunk weed, but only from about four folks.  I digress.  

There was a bag turned in early in the evening ... apparently found outside the building.  They said there was a wallet inside.  I opened it up, only to find rotten food and what looked like a makeup case filled with bottles of pills.  I didn't look any further.  In fact, I RAN to the bathroom to scrub my hands.  This thing was FILTHY and DISGUSTING.  The boss said to throw it in the trash, but I didn't even want to pick it up.  No telling what kind of drugs might be in there, and we have had people here die from just touching fentanyl.  Well that was fun!

By the end of the night I was pretty beat and yawning like crazy.  Luckily the infernal machine was nice to me.  There was one incident as I headed for the door.  I was hugged by a gal who is a friend of a friend.  She is one of the kindest people around and actually gave me a fabulous coat when I commented on one I saw her wearing.

Here's what she said to me.  I'm SO very sorry you lost your puppy as she gave me a big hug.  I have the sweetest pedigreed Yorkie who I am breeding to a fabulous male.  In about five months I will have puppies ... and I want you to have one.  You could have knocked me over with a feather.  

I don't know if I can go there ... I said that's amazing, but I have no one to babysit if I fly anywhere on trips that I have been considering.  Her response ... I WOULD LOVE TO PUPPY SIT.  I don't think I'm there yet, but it's a consideration.  We shall see what happens.  Honestly, every time I look at my Facebook account, I see movie after movie about Yorkies.  Maybe it's a sign, but it's just too soon to think about.

And so I drove home feeling a little better about the Magic Castle.  It's nice when the NICE people work and we all get along.

The last view was the Hotel Tioga.  It's as old as the hills ... the first big hotel in this town that housed all the big mucky mucks.  One of them was Mr. Cooper, a cattle baron of old, who sold us our ranch.  The only one within miles that had cattle scales.  I've mentioned him before.  

They lived in the suite on the top floor, and as a kid, I got to visit them occasionally.  Going through the big round revolving door ... going up in an elevator with a grate the man in the green suit pulled closed ... walking down carpeted hallways (unheard of back then) to the door with their name emblazoned on a gold plaque.  What an experience for a 6 year old kid.  A true cattle baron, Mr. Cooper never wore anything but 3-piece suits with a big gold watch chain, and his wife always dressed in beautiful dresses and big black old lady shoes.  That was over 65 years ago and I'll never forget them as long as I live.

Here's the hotel today since being renovated.  It was once visited by Eleanor Roosevelt and Marilyn Monroe.  Now it's been turned into apartments, which is very sad for me to see.  The red lights?  I've no idea, but they change color every so often, making for striking pictures.

Lastly, my good boy Cooper once again.  The ball was never far away!!!