Charging It Up .....

 Wait ..... did I read that right?  It's 54 degrees outside?  I actually had to put on slippers this morning instead of running around in bare feet on the wood floors trying to get cool.  I may even have to put BLANKETS back on the bed.  WHOA NELLY!!

So here we are at 6:00.  Mr. Cooper decided 4:30 was the perfect time to get up and lick my nose ... ewwwwww ... so he could go outside.  I guess I should be thankful he wakes me up.  Now I'm wide awake and he's fast asleep on the couch!!

It was an unusual morning with weird color across the sky like someone tried to paint it in.

"WE" did not sit on the patio, but I did for about 30 minutes until the sun came up and the colors faded.  Except for the dogs barking and the neighbor going out on his motorcycle, it was very nice and quiet.

Time to get to work.  I spent the first solid three hours trying to get my email to work on my computer.  It appears that Microsoft (Hotmail) and Apple (G.Mail) do not play well together.  In fact, not at ALL!!!  I admit, I have WAY too many accounts.  Two were set up for business contacts and two for junk mail.  I've no idea why I have FIVE now.  

After changing the passwords on each and every one, I finally figured it out.  I forced Microsoft to play ball with Apple, though there are still some settings I can't seem to get straight.  At least I'm now getting all the emails with bills attached.  That's important since I don't get REAL mail any more.  By the way, the post office is currently charging 79 cents to mail one tiny letter.  

On to more fun things .... I finally ordered this solar battery trickle charger.  No one from Mercedes would call me back.  I tried plugging a phone into the cigarette lighter, but apparently it is not "live" all the time.  That would supposedly let me sit the charger on the dash and charge through the lighter.  I don't want to wonder or stress about whether it's going to start or not, so this should work either way.  

When I went out to check the panels and make sure the solar was charging, I discovered several error messages on the touchpads from its trip to the shop.  If you don't turn things on and off in the correct order, that's what happens.  After a few minutes of trying to remember the order, the error messages disappeared and I "think" I am back to square one.  

To help in that respect, I'm going to spend this weekend in the van instead of the house.  If I want to get it down, I have to use it.

My van friend has recently discovered she had a visitor or two in hers ... you know, the ones who like to chew wires.  I'm truly not positive this is a sure fire cure, but it has worked for me for 13 years.  Maybe I'm just lucky.  This is Rid-A-Rat.  It's a battery powered flashing strobe light held on by powerful magnets.  I've never lost one on an RV ... and in fact, used this one under the house in Arizona.  They are not exactly cheap at $44, but so far it has worked well for me.  The added bonus is folks think it's an alarm system of some kind.

When she mentioned her sewer hose was not long enough to dump her tanks in two of the parks she visited, I offered up one of my extras.  I added one to my rig and I have three more, so I might as well share.  I'm taking it over today to see if it will fit in the pipe running down the side.  Though our rigs are the same, they are also different.

I was gearing up for a four hour trustee meeting at the Elks Lodge when I got an invitation to dinner at my favorite Mexican food restaurant.  They use HUGE plates and give you HUGE servings.  My chicken enchilada is usually 12 inches long and at least 3 inches wide, smothered in the best red sauce ever.  I just had one 7 days ago.

Wasn't I surprised when they put the plate in front of me.  My amazing enchilada must have had a baby.  Sitting on my plate was a measly little thing less than HALF the size.  FOR THE SAME PRICE!!  Just another sign of the awful economy and increasing inflation costs.  They have cut the size of ALL their meals in half, without cutting the price one bit.  How sad ... I expect they won't be in business long.

The meeting was long and contentious at times, but a money saving one.  We like those discussions a lot!!  Lucky for us we do not need to make a big profit.  In fact, since we are here for the benefit of the members, our prices have stayed the same for quite some time ... and we won't be changing that any time soon.  

The BEST news is I have ALL WEEKEND OFF!!  Maybe a road trip into the mountains would be good.

THE END ...... FOR NOW!

 Thank goodness I'm seeing the end of Hurricane Milton cross over Florida.  He was one angry dude, so mad that he brought all his tornado buddies with him.  I'm now hoping to hear good news from Dave, Marcia and everyone else headed home.  Sady, after TWO big hurricanes, there may not be a home left.  I just cannot imagine.  My prayers go out to each and every one.

That's what I was thinking as I crawled up the stairs at the Elks Lodge.  Since the back entrance goes into the basement, it's a 2.5 story trip to the office.  If it was only once, it would be a blessing.  Yesterday I had to make SIX trips up and down.  It's good for the lungs and legs I tell myself.  

The pretty window is from Everett Elks Lodge (the number escapes me) from 1901.  I've no idea how we ended up with it.

I really like "busy".  It was not on this day.  I answered the phone a few times, an antiquated system of bad connections and echos making it impossible to hear.  When I told the bookkeeper it was Mad Bond on the phone, she said OH ... that's MARATHON!!  My secretary skills are not what they used to be, nor is my hearing with crackling in the handset.

I did a few minor things, played games on my phone, got the mail, played games on my phone, called folks to tell them we had the prizes they had won, played more games.  In other words, not much!!

I finally headed on down to order early lunch.  If you are ever in this area Monday to Thursday, stop in and have some great food.  I should have remembered to take the picture earlier.  This is a green chili chicken sandwich that I will order every single time from now on.  Grilled chicken, a huge piece of green chili, smothered in cheese, along with all the fixings AND an amazing mayo-tomato sauce to pour on top.  Add those huge perfectly cooked onion rings and I was in Heaven.  $13.00 including tax.

It's so big, this is what I brought home for dinner.

After that, I hid out in this room for awhile waiting for the mail.  It's not good for everyone to walk into the office and see the secretary playing even MORE games on her phone.  There are two walls like this, with pictures of every person who has led the Lodge from the day it began.  Yes, these are all men, but when the rules changed, so did the pictures to include women.  They are covering the opposite wall.

At long last it is THE END of work ... for now.  I snuck out the door to be chauffeured by my friend (in her Porche) to pick up my van.  She is 75 years old and it's a manual transmission.  She is German and obviously used to driving the Autobon!!!  I've never met any other woman who likes to drive fast like I do!!  We had a blast!!

There was good news and bad news when she dropped me off.  

The GOOD:  They could not find one single thing wrong with the propane system.  No leaks whatsoever.  So just HOW did I lose 6 gallons of propane from the tank after running the generator twice for about 15 minutes each?  They pressure checked it twice, did a couple of other tests and NOTHING.

This MIGHT have been the culprit, but no one really knows.  This is the bleed valve (in the middle with the red) for the propane system.  Maybe it wasn't tight?  Coming looser from all those rough roads I drove on?  It's the only possible thing and I DID smell propane several times when walking by that area.  It's on my list to check now, every time I head out.

The BAD:  They could not find one single thing wrong with the propane system.  That meant I had to pay for it myself.  As for the dead chassis battery, there's a lot of parasitic things running all the time that will kill it in about 3 weeks they tell me.  Never heard of such a thing, so here's my next question.

Will the chassis battery charge if I have it plugged in?  That seems to run the inverter literally constantly, which I don't think is a good thing.  If I turn the inverter off, will it STILL charge the chassis battery?  SO MANY QUESTIONS!!  And yes, I'm ordering a solar trickle charger to keep hooked up when it's parked.  Not sure that's good for it either ..... but I think that's a solution.   Shhhhh she's asleep!!

I was exhausted when I got home.  It was a long day with too much sitting, which makes things ache.  Still, I'm happy to have a place to come home to when so many do not right now.  Kind of a long drive Dave, but the Kissack Hotel is always available. 

As for here, I think Mother Nature is finally over the hot flashes ... we have a lovely 62 degrees this morning with highs around 80 for the next week.  It's about time girlfriend!!!!!

Pitchforks and Flaming Torches

 Okay .... I'm up, I'm UP!  Every morning when I'm all drug out with no sleep, it reminds me of getting up at 4:00 in the morning and walking in the scary dark to the barn.  Even back then, I felt like a zombie!!  We caught up the horses and saddled them.  I had to stand on the edge of the water trough to reach my tall horse.  Once done, we walked BACK to the house in the scary dark for a lovely body warming bowl of cold cereal.  

An hour later STILL in the scary dark, we were riding out to the far pasture to bring in the cattle.  It was either branding day or vaccination day, followed up by fly spray.  I admit though, I don't remember feeling THIS tired!!  It must be the Bingo!

I started the morning out right in Cooper's mind, with a little steal the toy game on the floor.  This is second to throw the ball!

That didn't last long however as I headed off to lunch with a couple of the Bingo Crew before we hit the ground running.  Actually, I spent another two hours doing office work upstairs, trying to remember just WHO I marked as paid, but forgot to send out membership cards.  

Those cards also get little stickers that say things like "7 yr member", "Veteran" or the office you hold.  Just like Bingo, you would be surprised at folks when you forget to put one of their stickers on the card.  In a flash, it was time to head downstairs to finagle with the infernal machine.

We still have the problem of the backup machine having had its little brain wiped clean.  Programming takes several hours that I don't have.  After reading the book, I discovered you can put in an SD card and copy the programming.  In case of an emergency, or some silly person unplugging the machine, the programming can be restored.

Holding my breath, I put in the SD card, found the menu to format it and copied the programming.  I then took it to the SECOND infernal machine and tried to upload.  It just stuck its tongue out at me.  I was afraid to try a second time and mess something up, so I gave up this time.  But here's my question ... when it says upload, is that uploading the files to the card??? or is that uploading the files to the machine???

On with the pitchforks, shovels and torches!!  We had a lot of new players on this night, and many older ones who just came back to try and win one of TWO $1199 pots.  About half the players are happy campers, glad to be out for a night of fun.  The rest are curmudgeons who never smile or say thank you.  Most times it's even hard to tell which is which.

There was a little pushing and shoving in line on this night as they fought for THE WINNING CARD.  The torches came out and the grumbling began when one lady won TWICE.  In no time at all, she had won THREE $250 jackpots.  YIKES!!  

I called for the Knights to quell the riot.  The only thing worse than NOT winning is having ONE person win several!!!  There's no rhyme or reason for this, she just got lucky and picked up the winning cards.  No worries, it will all come back to us next week when she tries to win FOUR times in a row.

More ruckus went through the crowd when a new player didn't yell BINGO quick enough.  You know the rules, if you don't call it before the next number is called, you do NOT get the payout.  What a joy ... she just laughed about it!!  Two games later, she won again ... and this time you could hear her three blocks away.

Later in the evening a few MORE pitchforks came out once again because the guys selling one of the game cards were too busy talking to be out on the floor.  When these folks are playing bingo, they cannot be bothered with getting up.  They just raise their hand, whereupon the MEN are supposed to go see what they need.  

Though truly that is their job and the reason they are volunteering, they would rather just chat.  Me too for that matter.  Can't blame them I guess ... but the peasants always prevail.  After all, it is THEIR donations that are all going to charities and kids in our area.  The Elks Lodge gets to take all the credit, but it is the PEASANTS who have made every dime of those donations possible.  I SALUTE THEM ONE AND ALL.  Even the cranky ones!!

And so ended another lovely night.  The infernal machine took pity on me and balanced to the penny.  I headed straight home to a very happy puppy who thought after ten hours that I had fallen off the face of the earth.

Here's the good news ... I got a call to pick up my van.  A quick schedule check and it will happen this afternoon.  There is good news and bad news, but I'll explain tomorrow, because right now I'm going to try and catch just a few Zzzz's before heading to my LAST DAY ON THE JOB!!!  YAY, YAY and YAY!!!!

EEEEEEEKKKKKKKKK

 You know how you're laying there in bed, almost asleep (or at least praying for sleep) and you feel something on your forehead?  It's nothing ... just a stray hair ... so you swipe it back and roll over.  AND THEN YOU FEEL SOMETHING DROP ONTO YOUR SHOULDER!!!!!

Screams could be heard next door, I'm sure.  Nothing can get me out of bed faster, even the sound of puppy throwing up doesn't compare.  I flipped on the light and searched the bed and floor for 15 minutes.  Nothing ... I couldn't find a thing.  I'm pretty sure he hid in the depths of the bed.  That was pretty much the end of sleeping for me.

It might have been a tasty snack for Jonathan.   He's still hanging out, though not making as much noise as in his youth.  He's still chewing up a storm though.  That heavy towel over his cage is toast down at the bottom.

Along with the enchiladas came bird biscuits.  Parrots can be finicky eaters ... or maybe it's just being part of this family ... so I have to bake things he will eat that are good for him.  Anything orange ... carrots, sweet potatoes, though he won't eat pumpkin.  This will last about two months in the freezer.

And then it was time to head on out to the four letter word ... WORK.  I love the people, so it's an easy task.  With no initiation looming, there wasn't that much to do except work on the Vendor Faire in November.  The ball got dropped on this project ... as far as I know, they haven't even advertised it to the public.  No, I'm not taking this one on.  I do too much OTHER volunteering.  

There was lots of discussion about various problem items, but for the most part it was a nice day of sipping on a cold glass of coke.  Oh .... and this!!  Sorry but you know me and cake ... I tore into this with great relish when I heard it had caramel and Heath Bars in it.  OH YEAH!!!

Our lodge serves lunch every day in the lunch room, along with serving various groups who use our lodge as their meeting room.  There were two groups today ... and whatever dessert we serve them is fair game for the office help.  You know I would never turn down DESSERT!!

I arrived home to this sweet face barking and barking, grabbing his toy and running around me like crazy.  Try to steal it Mom ... just try!!!  I chase him around the house for 5 minutes before collapsing on the couch.  I love this kid!!

Maybe if I'm really lucky, I'll fall asleep on the couch this morning before heading out once again for lunch at my favorite Mexican restaurant with fellow lodge members.  You KNOW what's coming up next.  Oh yeah .... it's BINGO time!!!  

It's going to be a big crazy night ... we have not one, but TWO $1199 payouts to be made if they get the right numbers.  I will be dealing with nickels, dimes and pennies as everyone breaks their kids piggy banks so they can buy cards and WIN BIG!!!

Enchiladas Are In The House!!

GOOD MORNING CALIFORNIA!!  It's bright and shiny out here today, though still hanging around 97-98 degrees.  Since my solar seems to be working so well, I've been keeping it cooler inside, meaning I'm not as cranky as I have been know to be when it's HOT!!  

It also helps when I get outside for a little exercise.  My hip has been bothering me something awful for the last two weeks.  I'm sure it's sciatic related because I've been spending WAY too much time sitting on my you-know-what.  

Cooper loves it when we get outside.  This is not a leisurely stroll, but a dog race of greyhound proportions as I try to walk as fast as I can to keep up.  Most of the time I have to jog, he's trots along at such a fast pace.  

This stopped him in his tracks however.  The local stray kitties from the neighborhood were just waking up.  Surprisingly they didn't move, nor did Mr. Coop bark at them.  Good Boy!!

In checking the weather I found another one of these gosh darn hurricanes heading East.  This is Milton.  Do they ever have a regular hurricane name ... like John or Bill or maybe Dave??  Speaking of which, Dave ... you are Marcia can just get in your van and drive right to my house.  I've got lots of rooms to hang out in until all these storms pass!!

Back inside finally feeling fully awake, Mr. Cooper waited for his Good Boy snack, having not chased after the K-i-t-t-i-e-s.  We still spell that word because Miss Jessie passed on her HATED of anything in her back yard.

After several days, I finally have felt good enough to get back to quilting.  It takes a lot of thinking if you don't want to spend hours taking out thousands of stitches.  This is an experimental one where I'm trying out lots of different patterns just to see if I can do it.  

I don't have that many patterns to choose from, but so far it's coming out okay.  There's really no theme to this, it's just whatever I can find.

Okay enough of that ... it's taking WAY too long.  Here's something that only takes about an hour.  Enchiladas are in the house!!  Here's a twist ... pork enchiladas!  All I had in the freezer was ground pork, so I fried it up, doused it with spices and made GREEN enchiladas.  Sounds terrible.

I had enough to make two ... one for the freezer!!

Ta Da!!!!  Okay, I admit that particular brand of green sauce is weird, but it's all I could find at Wally World.  By the way, there was no rush on toilet paper.  

In the end, these came out just fine ... I mean they are MUCH more edible than that pot pie ... and will last as entire week.

The rest of the day was spent watching the Canadian National Finals Rodeo.  That's when I found this appropriate sign ... but they should have added BUCKING HORSE RIDING to the bottom of the list.  I need this!!!

There was more, but I'm holding it up until tomorrow since today I'll be at work once again.  Oh yes ... three more days of torture playing Secretary.  It's not the work, and definitely NOT the people ... it's having to leave the house at 8:30 in the morning!!!

Speaking of which, I better get my act together!!  Happy MONDAY!!

REDEMPTION!!

 Happy Sunday from sunny California.  Slowly but surely we will be heading back down to the low 90's this week.  A few clouds came sailing through to brighten up the sunrise a bit, making for a nice "sit" on the patio.  

I really wanted to hit the grocery store, but first, let's waste some time being amused by my phone.  I really can't imagine being without one now.  From the bag-O-phone I carried in the truck that looked like the one sitting on your kitchen counter, to the tiny little thing you keep in your pocket now, it's kept me connected to a construction crew, to the police department, to the County Auditor's office and now to all my friends I play games with.  It's just amazing!!

It's also kind of fun when you run across something like this.  I laugh every time I see one fueling up with GAS.  On the other hand, I have to give it up to Mr. Musk.  Since all the devastation from the hurricane, no one has phone or computer connections.  He took care of that in a hurry the day after it happened.

Sections of the country can be turned on and off on the satellite itself.  Elon made sure that entire area could link up to his StarLink satellite at absolutely no cost and sent out the units for free.  I guess I can't say much about the gas fueled vehicles any more.

Our Elks Lodge is helping out also.  I've been calling back East to several other lodges to see who needs help.  Most of the devastation for them has taken place in Tennessee and Georgia.  At the lodge initiation meeting, we approved sending cash to these lodges (I can't say how much, but Bingo is doing well) to help them rebuild and to help their members with housing.  Luckily, this one is just flooded with downed trees.  There will be more after more phone calls are made.

I finally made it to Wally World with a big sigh.  It was crowded, as I knew it would be.  There was no hoarding going on here as there was at Costco due to the shipping ports going on strike.  No kidding, people were lined up around the block at Costco trying to buy ..... you guessed it ..... toilet paper.  Seriously folks, don't we make that stuff here in THIS country?

I made it quick ... light bulbs, Taquitos, some canned goods and a few boxes of yummy (not so much) pasta.  I would have bought that chunk of Velveeta Cheese for my Mac n Cheese, but it was a whopping $6.00.  

And then ... THEN ... I found these!!!  Oh yeah ... Oreo has redeemed themselves.  Who would not buy these?  They have marketing down pat!!

I did of course have to fight the checkout machine once again.  It would not ring up the tomatoes.  The lady came over and fixed it, but tried to tell me it had rung them up twice.  I was watching the screen like a hawk ... and that wasn't true.  

I asked when they were going to bring back REAL checkers and save some money.  She said they have been trying, but after two days they quit.  No one wants to work.  No kidding Sherlock ... because we've been giving away money for free for several years now ... who would WANT to work?

I digress ..... just LOOK at these cookies!!!  Whoever thought this up is pretty smart.  What kid would not want to eat these?  Obviously I'm just a BIG kid.

REDEMPTION!  A cookie FULL of frosting!!  My bad, I think I ate five ... or maybe it was six!!

After cleaning some windows around the house so I could see out .... I know, pretty shocking it is ..... I made some pico de gallo.  There's a lady at Bingo that makes the best stuff I've ever tasted.  I've tried to duplicate it for years with no success.  

Finally ... on this October 5th ... I DID IT!!  Not too much onion, not too much cilantro ... it was perfect.  I savored every bite because it probably won't happen again!!  The green stuff is that sauce I bought awhile back.  YUM!!!  There actually is some chicken down under!!

Today will be filled with fun ... I've got two lightbulbs in my 12 foot ceilings to change ... always an exciting ordeal hanging on with my toes ..... before I do some research on what Dave said about some button I can push when my battery is dead.  Assuming of course the HOUSE batteries are charged, which I think they were.  Wouldn't that be something?  I don't have to carry battery cables??

Oh That Feeling!!!

 There's nothing better than waking up refreshed and ready to face the world.  Today was NOT that day.  Several things contributed to that.  Not only the late night, but the coughing and sneezing that cones with the almond harvest when you live in the middle of almond orchards.  That requires a box of tissues attached to your waist.

All this taking off to work has also made my boy an UN-happy camper.  When you see this face, you KNOW!!  Sadly however, that propane leak will not wait any longer.  

I was out the door just as the sun came up to take out anything of value.  I opened the door, got in and it was suspiciously silent.  No dinging of the key fob and no lights on the dash.  OH NOOOOOOOO!!  I'm sure you know that feeling!  I tried several things, all to no avail.  You KNOW what it was.  I haven't driven it in 3 weeks and I have the dreaded DEAD BATTERY!!  

How could that be?  I had absolutely everything turned OFF!!  Big sigh .........

I headed for the garage to get my jumper cables, thinking there's no way they are going to be long enough because I can't get my truck close enough. My neighbor heard me saying bad words I guess, because he came over to help.  

I got the truck so close I had to get out the passenger door, but YAY the cables were long enough.  I showed him where to hook it up ... and we left it for about five minutes (truck running) before starting the van.  Only it wouldn't start.  OH GOOD GRIEF ... or words similar to that ... once again I forgot to put my foot on the brake before starting.  It fired right up.

I let it run for 30 minutes, though Mercedes says do NOT do that ... something about the new whatever it is engine.  I ignored them completely.  Back in the house, I got ready to go, gave Mr. Cooper a big hug and I was off to Toscano RV.  

It was a nice drive, though I forgot to turn off the Assist Everything settings.  They don't work at ALL on a two lane road, even dangerous in my book.  I made it to the shop and wandered around until I found the door ... and the nicest service guy I've ever met.  No kidding ... Bobby was one of those guys who listens, answers questions and didn't ONCE try to upsell me or talk to me like I was 2 yrs old.  Too bad he's 30 something.

About that time my ride showed up with questions of her own about tire pressure monitoring systems.  Again, he didn't try to sell us anything, but said he had some if we were interested.  I already had mine in hand.  

They will check for propane leaks, fill it up and check the chassis battery .... should be done in a couple of days, unlike the service department where I bought it who said 5-8 weeks.  They are even covering it all under warranty, which is unusual unless you purchased it there.  NICE guy!!!

On the way back, my friend and I discussed all things photography.  We met in a college class many years ago.  She has been trying some light trail images that I would love to work on too.  Though our schedules don't match up for the rest of the year, we are determined to head up into the mountains for some nighttime work.

I had just enough time left for lunch before heading back to the Lodge to process all the paperwork and money from the initiation.  Here's one of those TASTE TESTS I put myself through for the benefit of everyone's taste buds.  

DO NOT BUY THIS ... I should repeat that 25 times.  I was buying Marie Callendars and saw these for $1.29.  Might as well give it a shot.  Boy what a bad decision THAT was.  There were five pieces of carrot, only ONE green pea in the entire box and something brown that was unrecognizable.  I should have read the ingredients.  CHICKEN LOAF.  Ever heard of that?

It's ground up BROWN pieces, probably including chicken feet and gristle, made into a loaf, and then sliced up into chunks.  It was like chewing on leather.  I try not to be wasteful, but two bites and it went in the trash.  It was THE most disgusting thing I've had in years!  This makes Taco Bell look like gourmet food!

After three hours of frustration at the "office" (which I'll relate tomorrow), I came home to a happy puppy that gave me kisses for an hour.  We rolled around on the floor chasing the ball and playing take-away with his toys.  Don't you just love how happy they are to see you??

Though I'm not really sure what day it is ... Saturday? ... I'll be heading to the grocery store.  Maybe ..... if I can gather up the energy.  

I Survived!!!!

 I feel like I got run over by a herd of elephants, or at least wild horses!  Early mornings and late nights just don't add up for me, so this is going to be a short one.

I arrived at the Lodge in time to check emails and the mail.  There were three more membership requests to process.  It just amazes me how many people we are bringing into the lodge every single month.  That was followed by requests for tickets to our next big Octoberfest dinner ... 20 at a time.  

Time passed by in a flash as I headed to the library with a huge box of stuff for the meeting.  One by five or ten, new candidates came in to get their name badges and dinner tickets for tonights initiation.  All went well until TWO showed up who were NOT on the list.  Panic set in as I rushed to find their applications.

I don't know the protocol for this, but what the heck, I signed them up.  

As for the actual meeting, it went fairly well, except I missed the first cue to announce the number of candidates.  Oops ....... from there on it went pretty well.  I dimmed the lights, rang the bell and read the minutes like a pro.  Pretty sure I left some stuff out, but oh well ... it made the meeting shorter, which is the goal of every one of us.

Here we are ... 32 new members and I think six officers, with at least that many more waiting in the wings for the NEXT initiation.

Way too early for me this morning, I'm off to another small town RV repair/sales shop to have them look at my propane tank for leaks.  The ridiculous place I bought it from gave me an estimate of 5-7 weeks to look at it and MAYBE get it fixed.  This place said maybe a week.  I'll let you know how it goes, and hopefully it's good news.

After that, I'm headed BACK to the lodge to do something with all the checks I collected last night.  What I don't know, but I'm sure I must have to do SOMETHING!!  Lucky for me, I get to spend the weekend sleeping!!  Mr. Cooper will love that!!

Work Work Work!!!

 YAY, I survived the big day at work AND the first hot day of the week.  We are back up to 101 degrees with 72 degree nights.  It's a good thing the lodge puts on such great dinners because it pays for the PG&E bill to keep the building nice and cool.  

I was finally able to get SOME of my email accounts to work after deleting them a few times.  About three hours worth of my time to get two working.  So at least there are now some pictures, though completely uninteresting pictures!!

Here's my little stool at Bingo.  There was no middle ground for a long time.  You were either looking up at the infernal machine or you were standing up and looking down.  As uncomfortable as it is, this little chair is right in the middle.  Wires everywhere are for the debit card machine and internet access.  This building is over 100 years old, so there are no modern conveniences.

Did I mention that we have a backup infernal machine?  It is programmed the same as this one.  If someone accidentally unplugs this machine for 30 minutes, all the programming disappears.  Yes it has batteries, but someone has to go BUY them.

SO .... someone unplugged the BACKUP machine and it lost its mind.  Maybe ... just MAYBE I can download the brains from this one on to a small disk and feed it to the backup machine.  Otherwise I will be spending 2-3 hours manually re-programming another infernal machine, which is why it's called an infernal machine.

Enough of bingo ... now I'm back in the office at 8:30 in the morning to try and get the system to tell me exactly how much each candidate needs to pay at tonights initiation, along with printing their membership cards.

Thank you for all the good luck you sent, because it went VERY well.  Though it took me three hours going through all the selections, I was thrilled to have finished.  That's when I got the phone call from a past secretary asking if I had added the $50.  WHAT $50?  No one said anything about $50.

Oh yeah .... we went back through the system one screen at a time while she tried to figure out how to do that.  Thank goodness for good Eks ... she did every one for me and saved the day!!

From there it was on to key codes not working to get in the door, craft vendor signups, paying dues and marking THEM paid along with going to that second program again to print cards.  How I ever got it to print the right card on a sheet of eight, I'll never know.

I definitely have to remember to take pictures, because I KNOW you would have loved seeing Taco Bell tacos for lunch!!  I finally snuck out of the office at 2:00 and headed home to my sweet boy.  He's always so happy to see me!!

Today I have a growing list of to-do's before dressing up in my monkey suit and heading back to the lodge.  I have to meet and greet the 31 folks being initiated, sign them in, take their money and explain everything before taking the Secretary's seat for the meeting.  

Roll calls, reading minutes, turning lights on and off, calling names of the departed, all stuff I have never done before.  Hopefully it doesn't turn into a wreck.  Oh .. and don't forget TAKING minutes for the next meeting because no one can find the tape recorder.  

Oh yeah .... this is a disaster in the making!!!!!  I'll let you know how it goes.  

You Flooded WHAT?

 Here I am, WAY too early in the morning after a very late night, trying to gear myself up for another morning of delight.  I will be trying to figure out an entire membership system, processing new members names and numbers.  This should be fun.  

In case you think there is any exaggeration in what happens at Bingo, there is not.  Sometimes I even try to downplay some of the shenanigans going on.  This would NOT be one of those nights.

I worked from 1:00 until 3:30 trying to figure out how to mark folks PAID.  It's hard when the name is misspelled.  We finally had to call the Sheriff's Department in order to come up with the correct info.  I think I finally got that right, but if not, I'm sure folks will say I PAID YOU!!  We'll leave that to the Secretary when she comes back.  I headed straight downstairs to Bingo.

My Lady in Waiting was late, but I knew that.  Thank goodness for my Fairy Godmother who always steps in.  That can make for some craziness which I try ever so hard to ignore.

I had pictures, but none of my four email accounts will connect this morning.  No matter how many times I enter my password, it refuses to accept it.  I've no idea why.  I can still tell the story, just no pictures!

There I was, sitting on my tiny little stool waiting for the next winner.  All of a sudden I heard MARK -- MARK -- EMERGENCY -- MARK!!  Mark is our go-to handyman as well as the Manager of our RV Park.  Mark can fix anything and that certainly comes in handy.

As the caller was calling a game, he heard plop plop plop.  UH OH ... as he turned around, he saw water coming from the ceiling light fixture.  Oh that's NOT good!

Mark ran upstairs to find someone had plugged the women's bathroom sink and turned the water on high.  Why oh WHY would you do that?  They thought maybe someone had a few too many at the bar, but I don't believe it.  I think it was intentional.  

The entire bathroom floor was covered in 2" of water and it was running through the ceiling, through the light fixture to the stage below.  Thank goodness for the caller who HEARD it.  No telling how long it had been running.  Can you imagine if it was NOT Bingo night and it ran until the next morning?

Mark got it all mopped up and cleaned up.  I told him to remove the drain plugs in all the bathroom sinks so that doesn't happen again.  Who would do such a thing, and WHY???  Was it a Bingo person?  It's possible one snuck upstairs, but only members would know where that bathroom is or how to get to it.  I can't believe a member would do that ... but a NON member I would believe, or maybe someone mad at us for something.

The rest of the night went as well as can be expected with only a few pitchforks coming out and getting inches from the second caller who can't hear anyone yelling Bingo.  I heard it four times ... he missed it altogether.  We are going to have to do something about that or we will all have holes in our bodies.

Just another exciting night at Bingo.  Hopefully the ceiling dries out by this morning when I arrive for a few hours of frustration.  Wish me luck ... I'm going to need every tiny bit I can muster up to get this job done today so we can initiate our 30 new members tomorrow!!!

Let's Try That Again

It was a beautiful morning, though we are heating up once again.  Good grief ... here it is October 1st and we are facing a week of 100+ degrees.  You watch ... one day it will turn to freezing and we will all complain about how cold it is!!  I'm looking forward to it since I'm a flannel shirt and jeans kind of gal.

So let's try this again ... Mr. Cooper and I went out for a lovely walk last night since he seems to be feeling much better.  I cooked up some special beef for him in my mini instant pot, which he enjoyed a lot.  Whatever bug bit him, is hopefully gone.   

It was time to head on out to the JOB, but I cheated.  I was late to work .... and NO ONE said a word.  I really didn't think I would be busy, but turns out there was a lot more stuff to learn.  One was how to retrieve the phone messages.  I finally called the secretary, who couldn't tell me either.  Makes me wonder.  

At any rate, I finally got it (I've no idea how) and took care of about 30 emails before getting in a little break.  None of the work is hard, but it's more difficult when you have no clue what to do.

Thank goodness we have an amazing bookkeeper who always has a handle on things.  Adding to MY problem is the Windows computer.  It's been 20 years since I had to work with that, and it's much more difficult than a MAC, especially when nothing in windows has EVER been deleted.  There are over 300 emails alone!!!

The best part of the day was when one gal went to a little Mexican food shop I haven't heard of before.  She brought us lunch.  Boy I was in HEAVEN!   I do love good street tacos, and come to find out, it's right on my way home.

I left about 2:30 and headed home to watch a little bull riding.  Out of about 20 riders, only 3 made it to the bell.

All the big rodeos are now over until the grand finale in the first week of December.  They've got two months to heal up before getting stomped on again.

Having been to the store to once again be shocked by the prices of food, I quickly threw stuff in my mini crock pot for a Dan Chance stew.  He makes the best stew on the planet.  I've tried to copy it for years, without success.  It just NEVER tastes the same.  

I ran this one on high for six hours until I couldn't stand it any more.  It's quite tasty, but still not the same.  At least this will last for several days so I don't have to both work AND cook.

Today is of course BINGO, so I'll go in a couple hours early in order to get frustrated doing office work before facing the Kingdom peasants (that's tongue in cheek for those new readers out there).  My Lady in Waiting won't be there ... oh wait, yes she will ... ummm well not until really late, so I'm not sure that counts.

Wednesday is looking like a fabulous day doing computer work no one in our office knows how to do, followed up Thursday by the initiation of 47 new members while I try to play Secretary at the Lodge Meeting.  Oh yeah ... this should be a fun week!!!  Stay tuned .........