You Read it Here First

Booting up the laptop this morning, I found the TikToker’s observation that white people have birds right up front and center, front page news feed.

The magazine Newsweek picked up the story, called it a "participatory trend", interviewed the TikToker who said "she noted the pattern seems more common among older people".

"The theory quickly turned into a participatory trend, as others walked through their homes examining, finding nothing, then noticing dozens of birds on wallpaper, figurines, classical ornaments, a table lamp shaped like a peacock, chicken figurines, a bird clock, and a "Black autistic person, whose special interest is birds" leveling the demographic playing field by admitting 500+ bird decorations".

When interviewed by Newsweek, the TikTok Creator indicated "the pattern appeared more common among older people".

What I really found interesting was mention that the decorating observation wasn’t the only bird theory out there, that earlier it was used as a test for relationship compatibility.

"The test involved telling a significant other you saw a bird that day, then watching how they respond. Partners who ask follow-up questions show interest in the relationship, while those who seem disinterested might indicate larger relationship issues".

Well, that sent me down the TikTok rabbit hole as both men and women tested the theory on partners. Some passed, some failed.

One guy dumped his girlfriend because, when he said he'd seen a bird, she completely ignored him, LOL.

I dunno, seems kind of sappy to me, but that may because I’m tainted in matters of relationships; too practical minded, too old, too tired, no time or patience for the care and feeding of another human's feelings.

If a guy were to tell me he saw a bird, I’d be more likely to dash cold water in his face by saying something like, "Was it a bird, a plane or superman".

Meanwhile, Newsweek went on to say "the decorating bird theory continues spreading as 2026's first major viral trend".

Just remember that I, little Miss Smarty Pants, was the one that initially put you readers onto the theory. You read it here first.

In other news, the Baker, a few days ago, asked that if she put together new bingo rules would I print the rules out for her.

Of course, I said sure.

The Baker later texted that the organizers decided not to issue new rules, but rather to "sit and talk to everybody about them".

Interest peaked, of course I had to inquire, and it seems bingo might be in trouble — people won’t shut up while the game is in play, contributions are down making money tight for prizes and snacks.

To help keep bingo going, the Baker’s two daughters have agreed to donate lunches on bingo day to "save us a little money and to remind people that we need some donations to put on our winners table".

All in all, seems there are a lot of takers, not many givers, too many Chatty Cathy’s and I think it just awful that, in order to keep bingo going, because they know their mother loves giving of her time and energy in organizing bingo for the seniors, that the Baker’s two daughters have to step up to save the activity.

Today is Bingo Friday. I’m tempted to participate for the tea.

We’ll see.

Happy Halloween

The Holy Tea is now 3 for 3, because not only did 1) the burner go back to normal shortly after the ritual, 2) I regained access to Dawn’s blog after the ritual but this afternoon, 3) the clock’s timer on the cellphone emitted the normal sound when cook time ran out.

I’d anticipated that, since the timer was the last to go, it would take a few more days before it recovered from damage done by that angry tree spirit, and so it became.

Today’s Halloween bingo wasn’t as boring as I’d anticipated.

Instead of calling out numbers, the caller called out characters, and we only played three bingo games, rather than the ten they usually call.

I won the first game.

As you can see, instead of chips we covered the called-out characters with little pumpkin faces.

Prizes were not set out on a table for us to choose from. Instead, a mystery bag was walked over to us.

Inside my bag were Halloween socks, which I plan to wear all year round.

Not a lot of costumes, but the ones that came dressed for the occasion were fun to see.

I did not wear my full skeleton outfit. It was too hot to wear the skeleton top, so I wore just my old leggings, my skeleton workout gloves and green lipstick.

Crafty Lady was of course present, and she read as …… salty.

I made a point to not be rude and ignore her. Instead, I walked over and, just to say something, came up with "You’re not in costume".

"No".

"Why not?"

"I don’t celebrate Halloween".

"Are you Jehovah Witness?" (cause I know they don’t celebrate Halloween).

"No. I just don’t like all the devil stuff".

"I love it".

"I know you do".

How can she tell …… what gave me away, LOL.

At any rate, that was the only time I noticed her during the event. After that, I was busy taking pics, no idea what she was doing, but it seems that when I ghosted her, did not come down to the Community Room to pick up whatever it was she’d made for me, that did the trick …… she finally got the message and now is giving me polite but salty about it.

Works for me.

When the party was in full swing, Kesha showed up …… and this wasn’t even her day to work.

She passed out little packets of candy, went table to table taking down names of attendees (about 30), so she can claim credit for the event, even though she had nothing to do with it ……… other than show up, give us little packets of candy.

I got three hugs …… one from Ernie when he first walked in, another one from Ernie after he left, came back, greeted me again; and lastly, a hug from the Clown, after which we took a photo together.

Her clown shoes were killing me, ROFLMAO.

I've never before introduced Ernie to the blog, never gave him a blog name, never considered him important.

He's just a normal dog walking guy, friendly to everyone, greets me with "Hey, beautiful", and hugs everybody with no hidden agenda.

I don’t know what got into Dream Lover when, at one point, he invited me to sit on his lap.

I pretended I didn’t understand and walked away.

4 years, 4 months, 3,391 Hours Later

Not yet tired of carrot soup for dinner, I had my third batch cooking in the crockpot yesterday afternoon when the power went out.

We’re having way too many power outages lately, and all the power company can tell us is "analyzing problem".

Luckily, it was only out from 6:00 to 8:30, instead of all night, but the timing of the outage was inconvenient as not only did I have to give up the idea of soup for dinner, switch to kale salad, but I was also in the middle of putting the last few stitches in that never ending needlepoint project when the craft lamp went out.

Retrieving the portable power station from patio storage, I was able to hook up the craft light, get sufficient light to finish.

4 years, 4 months, 3,391 Hours Later.

All that’s left to do is to wash the piece, iron, frame, post the great reveal in a few days.

Tomorrow is Halloween Bingo. When asked if I was attending by Painted Rock Lady, I did say yes but, as time has gone on, I’ve retreated further and further from the Usual Suspects, not so sure I wanted to go back to mingling.

Delivering November flyers to The Baker the other day, she asked, "You’re coming Friday, aren’t you?" So, I guess I’m going.

Billed as bingo, with a Halloween twist, it might turn out not to be as boring as I imagine.

I’ll be in costume, not wearing my "Look but don’t touch" tee, so hopefully Crafty Lady won’t give me any grief by trying to hug me ……… Cause me to create a scene by rudely backing away should it look like she's coming in for a hug or request a hug, like she did last time.

Wish me luck.

Outage

I was on the laptop yesterday, around 1:30 in the afternoon, watching a reborn to revenge kDrama entitled "My stepsister killed me, so I stole her billionaire boyfriend".

Don’t judge by the silly name, those kDramas are addictively good.

I was just at an on the edge of my seat part where both the reborn heroine and the billionaire boyfriend were in serious jeopardy when the movie shut down because the internet went out.

BLACKOUT!!!

Fortunately, it wasn’t a complete power outage — power in the unit was still on, but the internet and television were mysteriously unavailable remainder of the day.

Waking up this morning, I saw service to both had been restored, but I’ve not yet had time to get back to the movie.

The blackout turned out to have been "area wide", with no explanation as to what had occurred.

The outage made for a quiet day, as I worked on making a mini drawstring bag for the Alert device.

Took four 30-minute tries before I successfully created a workable pouch to match my kente cloth buff headband.

Now knowing what I’m doing, it only took 20 minutes this morning to knock out a pouch that matches a pair of leggings.

When I remember where I stored the camo and denim fabric, I’ll make pouches to match corresponding outfits. I’ll probably also make a black pouch for when I need a neutral look to match what I’m wearing.

Now, I just have to find a gold chain long enough and strong enough to support the device, so I can get rid of that unglamorous rope.

All in all, even enclosed, the device seems a little too noticeable, since I'm not wearing a boho skirt which would make the colorful bag make sense. Consequently, there will be times — especially if I notice a good-looking man checking me out, when I’ll tuck the covered device, so all he sees is the gold chain I’ll eventually be adding to replace the cord.

Time got away from me on Pizza Tuesday, so I never made it down to the Community Room to babysit the seniors for Kesha, but I’m sure that by now she’s got the hang of things and has the seniors falling in line.

After two sessions of bingo were shut down due to that covid scare, bingo is back on tomorrow. Lu tells me it’s a combination of bingo and a birthday party for the Baker.

I don’t have the energy to deal with the seniors tomorrow, so I’ll pass on attending.

BTW, some weird stuff is going on with blogger .... Settings is set to "not allow search engines", buy somehow "Google search entities found" keeps popping up when I blog AND, even though I hit "Dismiss", Google is still crawling, indexing, and screwing with my readership — causing it to rise from a few hundred to thousands. I’m not comfortable with that. Are you also all of a sudden getting the "Google search entities foumd" message?

Just When You Thought It Was Safe

Yesterday was my appointment with the doctor. On the way to the appointment, this happened.

That was some dangerous driving, and would have gone sideways for me, stopped at the red light, had one of those vehicles been hit by moving traffic that had the green light, causing one or more to crash into me.

I got a good look at the driver of the nazi car as he made the turn, and surprise surprise, it was a Brother, I’d say in his mid 30’s; and not a richy rich snob type Brother, but a common every day normal casual Brother, wearing a white t-shirt.

So, what was he doing driving a cybertruck?

The dangerous move was all for naught, because I knew the route the cars (looking to be a convoy of three or four), were taking would get them to where I’d soon be had they just cooled their jets, made the turn at the next intersection.

So, anyway, the doctor tells me I’m basically healthy, doing all the right things — eating healthy, exercising, but cholesterol is too high and I need to get my BP down, which was 160 when I arrived at the medical center — in spite of having taken the morning’s medication, and 163/71 after the nurse had me sit and rest for a while for a retake.

Go figure.

Doctor’s diagnosis "not diabetic, take 2 tablets for hypertension, but if BP is under 120 systolic, then take one), hydrate hydrate hydrate hydrate, lab work every six months (as they’re keeping an eye on kidneys filtrating a little slower than should)".

So, that’s that.

Today is bingo for the seniors and, after all that rigamarole over that ever-changing bingo flyer, today’s bingo is cancelled. The session scheduled for Friday the 22nd is probably also cancelled and, who knows, there may never be bingo again.

No matter to me, as I’m not involved in bingo, but a huge blow to those that are involved — organizers and participants.

As to why bingo is cancelled until further notice, I received a text from the Baker yesterday afternoon, "Someone came in the clubhouse on Tuesday with Covid, so most of us are just staying inside and testing".

F_CK!!!

I WAS IN THE COMMUNITY ROOM ON TUESDAY!!!

That was Pizza Tuesday, the morning I went down to check out the new Activity Director.

Just when you thought it was safe.

Heck, I didn’t even know Covid to be still a thing.

How are people still catching it?

Remembering how it was that Di hugged me in the Community Room that morning, and I had hugged our former Activity Director Christine, and how some of us had taken a group photo with the new Activity Director Kesha — all standing close, arms entangled, my first thought was to check on when I should begin testing. Learned that, if exposed and don’t have symptoms, wait at least 5 full days before testing but, if one develops symptoms, test immediately.

Not experiencing any symptoms, but needing to know just how worried I should be, I queried the Baker, "Was the person who brought Covid into the room someone who was in the room when I was there or came after I left" and was much relieved to find it was Dream Lover, as he was not in the room when I was there, had come later.

Fortunately, neither were Activity Director Kesha, or her new boss Christine. They headed for their cars just as I was walking out.

Unfortunately, Talker, Little Knock Knock, Lurch, Upstairs Lady, Lu, the Baker, her husband and a handful of others likely came in contact with Dream Lover.

I’m 99.99% certain I’m good but, since Dream Lover’s girlfriend Lu and best bud Upstairs Lady were in the room when I was there — even though, since I'm keeping Upstairs Lady on the does not exist list, kept my distance from her, the fact remains that both Lu and Upstairs Lady are stuck like glue to Dream Lover, so who knows which of them might have caught what. I’ll take the extra precaution of testing.

Isn’t it interesting how things sometimes turn out ……… Upstairs Lady has that little click of hers (Dream Lover, Lu, herself), a little click inside of the big click, that resulted in my moving away from the High Table at the BBQ, away from them, and now one has Covid, two are testing, all three are on lockdown.

Gift Horse

I heard through the grapevine that, even though Activity Director quit last week, tomorrow’s Pizza Tuesday is still a thing because a new Activity Director has been hired.

That was quick, which makes me think Activity Director played right into her mean boss’s hands by quitting. Mean Boss probably had someone in mind she wanted in the position — a friend or acquaintance, as insecure people in management positions almost always push current staff out, build a staff around themselves that is loyal only to them, as a way of protecting their incompetence from being outed.

I may have to do a walk-through tomorrow just to get a glimpse of the new hire.

Other than that, no longer having access to the Activity Calendar, I’ve no idea what’s scheduled for the seniors this month.

Yesterday, Sunday, was laundry day. So, while in the Laundry Room, I checked the community board and saw my latest work — the flyers that annoyed me into bringing out my Anne Marie cursing side, had been published.

To avoid confusing the seniors that had already received copies of the first flyer, the Baker posted the old and the new side-by-side to make certain it was understood there’d been a change.

Good idea. No one else needs their brains to be as scrambled as mine had been in completing that simple project, and I’ll be flabbergasted if the Usual Suspects actually get up/out to play bingo 10:15 in the morning.

I myself may have to get up/out, just to peek in, see if they do.

I was looped into a text message thread yesterday, where members of the High Table are on a hunt for birthdays to celebrate — naming residents they were planning a cake party for, asking members to provide birthdays of residents that might have been missed, so they too could be celebrated.

It used to be that birthdays were celebrated by month — one cake would be brought out during the snack break at bingo, those in attendance would be asked to stand if their birthday fell within that month, the attendees would "sing" happy birthday.

Looking at the photos recently sent for me to post to the resident’s facebook page, I noticed one cake per month has morphed into elaborate individual store bought/store decorated birthday cakes for each and wondered how the group could afford it.

I’ve since learned, "Donations", but who is doing all this donating?

So, anyway, if they’d looped me into the conversation as a way of getting my name added to the birthday list, they are out of luck, as I don’t care to have my birthday celebrated around here — I think it’s embarrassing, don’t get how the seniors enjoy being made the center of attention, having their birthday put on blast in that manner, and it all feels so phoned in …… not much feeling, especially the "singing".

For instance ……

Not only does this "singing" sound more like a death knoll, phoning it in, no feeling to it at all, it seems some don’t even know birthday boy's name, LOL.

They just want cake so, no thanks. I’ve no problem in spilling my age, but my date of birth is a state secret.

Around 6 o’clock Friday night, there was a rapid knock knock knock knock on the door.

No need to ask, "who is it?". Only one person knocks like that.

With the Talker waiting at the bottom of the stairs, Little Knock Knock ran up to drop off a gift from her Aunt H — Talker’s sister that I sat with at the fateful July 4th BBQ, where we had that High Table drama.

It's nice to be thought of, but I can’t help but look this gift horse in the mouth and wonder why?

Aunt H and I only met that one time, so receiving a gift from her is a little puzzling.

The earrings are not actually my style, but I’ll of course wear them to the next patriotic themed event …… whenever that is, to make her feel the gift is appreciated should our paths cross again.

When it occurred to me that I was looking a gift horse in the mouth, I wondered where did that phrase came from?

Mr. Google says, "The saying ‘Don't look a gift horse in the mouth’ means you shouldn't be critical or ungrateful when receiving a gift or favor, even if it's not exactly what you wanted. It emphasizes the importance of appreciating the gesture and the giver's thoughtfulness, rather than focusing on the gift's perceived value or flaws".

"The idiom originates from a time when horses were commonly used and their age and health were often determined by examining their teeth. To inspect the teeth of a gift horse would be considered rude and unappreciative, implying that you are more concerned with the horse's worth than the kindness of the giver. Essentially, it's equivalent to saying ‘beggars can't be choosers’".

Sunday is National Chip and Dip Day

What?!, you didn’t know that, never heard of it.

Truth be told, I never heard of it either but, when I went down to the Community Room yesterday, to check out the seniors, I saw Activity Director had put out potato chips, salsa, guacamole, for an early celebration of Chip and Dip Day.

She didn’t have many takers, only Upstairs Lady — the resident who has problems with her legs, walks by propelling her body from side to side, and the new lovebirds — Dream Lover and Lu.

The love affair seems to be going strong, as I see the two carving a path on the walkway, going back/forth to each other’s unit, Lu looking adoringly at Dream Lover when I saw then in the Community Room, constantly touching his arm, shoulder, back.

A partner constantly touching me would drive me bonkers. I'd lose my shiz, grab and toss his hand away (I did do that once, when Michael, the drummer I dated back in the day, kept moving his fingers along my shoulder), but to each their own.

As long as Lu has her car to drive Dream Lover where he wants to go — he doesn’t drive, continues to supply him with homecooked meals — feed his stomach and ego with the adoring looks and touching, this one might take.

So, anyway, no intel of interest to be gleaned out of those three, I just said hi and goodbye.

I did find printouts of the monthly Activity Calendar, stacked up on a side table. So, I guess that’s the new method of getting the calendar to us …… check for printouts in the Community Room.

While in the room, I also noticed the Baker wasted my time, printer ink and 25 sheets of paper, when she had me revise this month’s Bingo flyer.

I’d already given her flyers to distribute and post. There was a date change, so she asked that I reprint.

No problem I.

She also asked me to add a blurb, saying it was because, "I've got to do something" about the noise ……… people talking, making it difficult for others to hear numbers being called, etc.

Again, no problem.

So, at the bottom of the flyer I added the words she'd given me, "Reminder: Please keep voices quiet when we are calling bingo, or if someone is calling bingo back to us."

I just knew some of the bingo players were going to be offended, weren’t going to like that blurb and, in the back of my mind, I kinda thought the Baker thought that if I thought she was doing something about the noise …… that gave me a headache last time I attended, I’d return to bingo.

I’m over bingo, won’t be returning under any circumstances.

At any rate, I saw the Baker had not posted the revised flyer with the blurb. Instead, she’d penciled in the date change onto the original flyer, posted that one.

I guess she too knew some of the players would be offended and, people pleaser that she is, chickened out.

She’s not like me. If I were going out of my way to arrange bingo, so the residents would have something to do …… using my time, my energy, my money to provide prizes, even baking cupcakes and providing other treats for break time, and you couldn’t respect or appreciate me enough to not steam roll all over me with your talking after I’ve constantly asked you not to …… the Baker even once had a rubber squawking chicken that she’d squeeze to quiet the room down, and last I saw brought a bell to ring to quiet the room down; if they nonetheless persisted, failed to comply with bingo etiquette, as they do, I’d pick up my bingo equipment and pull an Eric Cartman "Screw you guys, I'm going home".

I definitely will not go back to bingo.

I got a call from Manager yesterday, that guys were coming in to fix a problem with my patio this morning, would be arriving at 8:30 AM.

When Head Maintenance Guy did his pre-inspection before the Regulatory Agency was due to arrive for its random inspections, he spotted an area on the patio that appeared to be peeling.

He indicated, at that time, it wasn’t a big deal, that I was not likely to one day step out on the patio, find myself crashing down to the first floor.

When the Regulatory guy toured my unit, I saw the Inspector and Head Maintenance Guy looking at and having a conversation about the area.

I guess it was then decided it was a big deal after all, needed to be repaired.

This morning was a workout day, and with the guys set to arrive at 8:30, to patch up the hole, I was sure I’d be able to keep my 11 AM schedule.

Didn’t work out that way.

What I thought was a patch job, turned out to be a complete patio redo, estimated to take all morning.

I had to text Trainer that I was giving him the morning off.

BTW, last Wednesday marked my 6th year training at the Pain Cave. My first session was March 12, 2019.

I've told Trainer that he’s the longest lasting relationship I’ve ever had with a man.

Though Trainer still tries to "push me … build", unfortunately there’s a lot my 81-year-old body won’t now let me do. So "cross fit" has slowly morphed into "maintain fit".

The work on the patio began early — 8 AM. The guys completed and left at 12:30, with instructions for me to wait until tomorrow to put patio furniture back in place.

I originally had a wood floor patio but, when the current management group took the complex over in 2012, they replaced the patio floors with concrete, and did so without entering the unit …… they went up and down a ladder.

So, though I don't understand why the guys didn't use the same manner to do the work, so I didn't have to stay home, watching the process while working on that never ending needlepoint project was interesting.

The guys put down something that looked like chicken wire over the existing patio, poured concrete, sanded the concrete down, finished by painting the concrete.

Painting the concrete was new to me, it looked fine as it was, but whatever.

The guys were respectful, affable and managed to do all the work without getting a speck of mess anywhere inside.

Just When I Thought I Was Out

Another weekend avoiding people and the news.

I did okay with the people — only one sighting while picking up mail.

It was one of the Usual Suspects who said, "We miss you at bingo".

I changed the subject.

Knowing it was Bingo Friday, that she should have been in the Community Room playing, I asked if it was breaktime and if she’d won anything.

Yes, it was breaktime; No, she’d not won anything but had come close.

I escaped back to my unit, only to later get a text message from Talker ……… "We miss you at bingo".

Not going to work ladies. You’ll never draw me back in.

I wasn’t quite as successful in avoiding the news as I’d have liked. Headlines about the Zelensky thing at the White House would pop up every time I booted up the laptop and, even though I didn't click on the headline, read the details I didn't want to know, there was no escaping the topic even on Tik Tok.

At least Tik Tok gave me some relief from the seriousness of what happened, and our humiliation and embarrassment that it happened here.

I had a short visit from my baby girl Twin 1 over the weekend.

She’d spent the day in Los Angeles, with the plan to do a turnaround …… drive the 5 hours to Los Angeles from where she now lives, spend that day taking care of business, drive the 5 hours back.

As she prepared to drive the 5 hours back, reality set in. Realizing she was too tired and groggy to be on the road for that length of time, what with my place being about an hour and a half from where she was leaving from, she wisely did a layover at my place, got some sleep and, the next morning, drove the remaining three hours back to Nevada.

She made me laugh when, looking around, she uttered "It's so clean here. Who cleans for you?"

She has someone clean for her twice a week, her sister Twin 2 had someone come in clean for her, Granddaughter also has a cleaner, so I guess Twin 1 assumed someone cleaned for me as well.

I don't know where they got indulging in that kind of luxury from, but for sure it wasn't from me …… she who, at 81 years of age, still cleans for herself.

Bingo Friday

Yesterday was Bingo Friday, and I can’t tell you how good it felt to not have to rush down to the Community Room after the morning’s workout, hang with the old people.

According to the flyer the Baker had me put together, bingo included a "Special Treat for Valentine’s Day" …… "Probably strawberry shortcake" is what she told me.

However, looking at the photos the Talker sent for me to post to the group’s Facebook page, it doesn’t look like strawberry shortcake happened.

It actually looked like there was no special treat, period. Then, in the corner of one of the photos, I saw what looked like the edge of a container of cupcakes, iced pink for Valentine’s Day.

Can’t tell if the cupcakes are baked or store bought but, when the Baker bakes, she usually displays on a cupcake stand, not in a container. So my guess is store bought.

When last I saw the Baker, she’d looked worried. She’d been placed in that difficult position of having to tell her friend (Red Light) that, because one of the usual bingo suspects had a problem with Red Light attending bingo as a non-resident, that she (the Baker) was going to have to hurt her friend’s feelings, tell Red Light she could no longer attend.

Since then, the Baker has had to deal with Red Light’s Facebook meltdown and harassing phone calls.

Looking at the pictures of the Baker at yesterday’s bingo, she does not look well. You can tell something is weighing her down.

It’s not a stretch to assume no strawberry shortcake and store bought instead of baked is because the Baker just doesn’t have it in her right now to do more than the basics.

Last week’s lousy weather didn’t help anyone’s energy — first three earthquakes, followed by drab dreary days and then non-stop rain with constant flash flood warnings Wednesday and Thursday.

Friday was a dry day for us, but still drab/dreary and, from the photos, it appears not many were in the mood as attendance looked to be down.

All in all, I’m glad to be out of the bingo scene.

This was also the first bingo where Red Light was not in attendance.

No surprise there because, after her Facebook posts, the harassing telephone calls by she and her son, she can never show her face around here again.

In fact, I’d not be surprised to learn not only has she now been officially banned by Management, but that Manager has taken out a restraining order because Red Light yesterday did something I never thought she’d do …… she scrubbed her Facebook page of the three libelous and poor pitiful feel sorry for me posts, wherein she’d named those she felt had wronged her.

It’s giving too much credit to think she deleted the posts because she’d come to her senses. Nope. Not her style. More like something of a legal nature has occurred, which may be another reason why the Baker is walking around with an even heavier heart — she had to hurt her former friend’s feelings again by doing something she didn’t want to do but had no choice in order to stop the harassment.

The Baker did say her Deputy Sheriff son-in-law was looking into what could be done to stop Red Light and her son. So, for Red Light to retract her posts, something significant has happened …… someone of authority has contacted her, or she has been served with a restraining order.

Sooner or later, the Grapevine will get around to letting me know which it was.

From My Mouth to God’s Ears

I’d just this morning, commented on Mike’s post, about eggs being the new gold, that I’d not been able to purchase organic eggs since first of the year.

Lo and behold, I pop into the market after today’s workout for eggs and Eggland’s Best Organic are back on the shelf.

The price of $9.99 is reasonable, and worth it to settle my stomach, as it suddenly occurred to me, after an entire month of Cage Free eggs, as Organic was not available, this might be why my gut has been giving me issues for an entire month.

Cage Free Eggs come from chickens not kept in cages, probably fed things my gut is allergic to, while Organic Eggs comes from chickens kept not in cages and fed organic feed.

And trust me …… my stomach knows when I’ve eaten something with an ingredient or substance that it’s allergic to, as a gut episode soon follows.

So, anyway, since today seemed to be from my mouth to God’s ears …… desires are being granted, let me say I’m still looking for that multi-million-dollar bingo win.

Detouring through the mailroom on my way back to my unit, I ran into the Baker.

She looked worried.

Asking if the bingo thing had calmed down, she said "No". That Red Light is still upset because the Baker won’t tell her who it was that made the complaint that got her kicked out of bingo.

Baker said, "I can’t tell her. I don’t want to cause trouble for someone else, so now her son is calling".

"OH! HE’S DANGEROUS", said I.

"Yes, I know", said she.

I didn’t ask how she found out the son is dangerous, but I found out when Red Light and Talker had that falling out that I mentioned in my February 1 post — the falling out that prompted Red Light’s first meltdown on Facebook.

The son had gotten involved, told Talker "I’ll throw you in the pool, put my foot on your neck, hold you down until you drown".

That seemed extreme, a little too Dexter Morgan, so Talker and I branded the son as dangerous to be thinking that way, talking that way.

I subsequently researched him online, to see if he was wanted for anything, but could find no info about him …… nothing at all.

So now, the son is on a mission to find out, for his mom, who it was that made the complaint.

Baker said the son is calling and harassing others his mom suspects of being the one …… residents not initially named in her Facebook meltdown.

I don’t answer my phone for numbers I don’t recognize. So, I checked my call list to see if any of the numbers I ignored looked like they could have come from the son.

Didn’t find anything other than out of state so, evidently, I’m not on Dexter’s and Ma Barker’s list.

Inasmuch as the son is considered dangerous, I asked Baker what she was going to do.

"One of my son-in-laws is a Deputy Sheriff. He’s going to look into what’s the best course to follow".

I'd like to see the look on Red Light's and her son's face when the cops show up.

I repeat …… all this over bingo.

Manure Has Hit the Fan

Logging into Facebook this morning, to update the month on the resident’s page from January to February and, whoa Nelly, there was Red Light with one of her cryptic memes which I recognized as the beginning of a meltdown.

If this indeed is heading for a meltdown, it would be her 2nd very public meltdown, thought I. The first was in March of 2023.

This is what Red Light does. It’s her passive aggressive way of trying to manipulate people into feeling sorry for her. Like, "Hey look at what’s happening. I’m a victim here".

Only this time, as Red Light transitioned into the meltdown I'd expected was coming, she went from cryptic memes to full on naming names.

I don't know who this Blair person is — no one living here insofar as I know; but, by naming "Beatrice", Red Light is pointing directly at the Baker, "Grace" the Other Wheelchair Lady and "Mari" the complex Manager.

I'm not sure who "Another Person" is but, surprisingly, she doesn't name Talker and thankfully kept my MF name out her MF mouth (see what I did there).

Seems like the Baker, stuck between that rock and hard place as to whether to stand by her friend Red Light or acquiesce to the resident that didn't want Red Light around, made the difficult decision that what the resident wanted took precedence.

Under the circumstances of Red Light no longer being a resident, I don't see that the Baker had any other choice, before the complaining resident took the complaint to Manager, but Red Light is obviously seeing it differently.

That last sentence was a nice try at throwing shade and doubt on the Baker, trying to cause the Baker to consider someone doesn't like her either.

If Manager learns of Red Light's postings, her name included (and she will learn because someone will snitch to her), there's going to be heck to pay. Manager will probably get Red Light's FB account shut down, may even shut down the Resident's page, as Red Light posted all that not only to her personal Facebook page but also to the Resident's page, just to make sure it was seen by multiple persons.

I have it that, though Red Light's new place in Yucaipa is nice, luxurious, near a great shopping center, restaurants, etc., with only 35 units and so much to do in the area, no one wants to do bingo or set up any kind of activity, get involved with neighbors. Seems, she gained a lot when she moved out March of last year, but she also lost a lot — the sense of community she seems to need.

If she was reaching the point of loneliness and boredom to where she wanted to move back here, she's blown that possibility and, since she's burning bridges, she now has no friends just to stop by and visit.

So, anyway, if anyone is looking for me today, you'll find me eating popcorn, watching Facebook to see what Red Light will post next.

Timing is Everything

The more I thought about why Red Light would ask if my reason for dropping out of bingo was because of her, the more it occurred to me she just might have been fishing for information …… expected me to say no, it wasn’t her, it was someone else, so she could start drama.

Little did I know the drama had already begun. I just got caught up in it due to poor timing.

Heading out of the complex to run errands this morning, I parked in front of the office, ran in to drop off next month’s rent check, ran into the Baker.

Perfect timing.

After greeting her, I went straight into, "I got the strangest text from Rox (Red Light) asking if I was leaving bingo because of her. Why would she think that?"

The Baker began laughing, said "That was a strange thing to do, but let me tell you what happened earlier".

Baker said she’d been approached by another resident who said, "I can’t stand Rox. I just can’t get along with that woman and, since she’s no longer a resident, I don’t think she should be allowed to attend bingo".

Baker said that put her in a terrible position because, though the complaining resident has a valid point about Red Light not living here and technically should not be allowed to participate in resident activities, Red Light is her friend.

What the Baker decided to do was to call Red Light, tell her what had been said and leave it up to her to decide if she wanted to nevertheless continue to attend bingo.

She did.

Red Light attended the same day she found out someone did not want her there …… the same day I decided to announce I quit.

She put two and two together, thought I might be the complaining resident, sent that text.

I actually admire Red Light’s not folding like a cheap suit. The Baker wouldn’t tell her who the complainer is, so she’s on the hunt.

Now that I understood what's going on, and Baker being between a rock and a hard place as to whether to allow her friend Rox to continue to participate, I offered the following.

"You do a lot for these people, and they don’t seem to appreciate how much you do, how hard you work to give them fun activities. They take advantage of you. Rox has always helped you with all you do. So, if the person complaining is not doing anything to help you, and Rox is, then F_ck ‘em".

The Baker laughed again, and said "That’s the thing. The resident complaining is also helping me".

So, anyway, I don’t know what the Baker is going to do and, since I won’t be attending bingo in the future, I won’t know if Red Light shows up at bingo tomorrow, and the next and the next until things blow up and she can't.

One thing I do know is who the complaining resident is because, when the Baker said the complainer also helps her, that brought it down to two possibilities …… the Talker and the Other Wheelchair Lady.

The Other Wheelchair Lady — the resident who took offense to Di saying the F word, is known to be sometimey, but it’s a medication issue. Outside of flipping out, now and then because of meds, I know her to be friends with Red Light. There's always the possibility that's changed, but I doubt it.

My money is on Talker as the one who says she can’t get along with Red Light, and wants her to stop coming here.

I say this because, a few weeks ago, Di was upset because Talker was saying bad things about her, "trying to turn my friends against me", Di said.

When Di was telling me what Talker was saying/doing, I said "That doesn’t sound like her, doesn’t seem like something she’d do".

Now I’m thinking that, though I’ve never seen that part of Talker, she may actually be guilty of inflicting emotional damage on Di, maneuvering to get Red Light banned.

After all, this is the Feng Shui Year of the Snake. People we thought we knew are shedding their skins, showing a side of themselves we never knew was there — Snoop Dogg, Cary Underwood, Rascal Flatts to name a few. So, it’s not a stretch to surmise Talker is shedding her skin, showing a hurtful bully side.

At any rate, that’s the tea.

I have a sense that, at the rate things are going, bingo may end up shutting down altogether because, if Talker is successful at getting Red Light out, she herself will probably walk away, leaving the Baker on her own, with no one to help and Baker will have no choice but to shut down the whole thing.