Mother's Day: Flower Power & County Roads

     There are a lot of good things in life, but one of the GREAT things is putting a smile on someone's face. T & I owe a giant debt to our friends Theresa and Rodney Dupree who own and operate The Blossom Bucket in Snyder. For the second year, they asked us to help deliver flowers for Mother's Day.  Mother's Day isn't their Super Bowl, but it's darn close.

Rodney & Theresa Dupree

     Mother's Day of course is on a Sunday. It's always on a Sunday. In a bit, I'll explain the "dumbass charge" I think Rod & Theresa should implement. But first, more about our day(s) of delivering in the "Bucket."

"The Bucket"

     Our delivering began on the Wednesday before Mother's Day. We're veterans so we get assigned the "Bucket," very possibly the roughest riding mode of transportation since the covered wagon. I mean if we hit a pebble, it sounded like a gunshot. If we were in a big city, I'd think someone was trying to 'pop a cap' in us. Still, the "Bucket" is fast and very well air conditioned.
     The way it works is: Customers call or come in to place their orders. We literally walk in and out the back door and very rarely venture beyond the backroom.

Flower Power Team

      The 'middle' room looks like the picture to the right. Theresa and a team of flower artists have a station. They have more knives, scissors and assorted trimming tools than Meredith Grey.
     Rodney generally takes all the orders and somehow the paperwork gets to a station and then VIOLA! Theresa and the flower artists knock out dozens and dozens of arrangements.      We simply walk in, pick 'em up and head off in the "Bucket."
     The turnaround's usually pretty darn quick. We walk in and we walk out with usually four to eight deliveries per trip,,,, depending on where we're going. And where we're going can many times prove very interesting.

Ready for Delivery

     Theresa (Dupree) has a sweet policy. They'll deliver only within the city limits for Valentine's Day, but county wide for Mother's Day. Theresa's reason is simple. Too many moms live in the county and simply can't drive into town to pick up their yellow, purple, red or rose' arrangement. So, we, the deliverers, put some serious mileage on the "Bucket."
      Granted Snyder's a small town and Scurry county's sparsely populated, but.... that doesn't mean we know where we're going all the time.
       If a delivery's in town, Teresa (Robertson) usually knows the people because most times she taught them or their children in the fifth grade. If the delivery's out in the county, that's where Rodney is Mr. Direction. I suspect he's never, ever been lost in Scurry county. If you ever need directions, give him a call. His cell is 555-Not-Lost.

She Love Me

     I think it's safe to say that I see more of Scurry County when we're delivering for The Blossom Bucket than I see at any other time of the year.
      By now, maybe you've seen my Facebook post of my pretty cow. I've decided to call her Gladys.
      We came across Gladys, and I mean really came across Gladys because she wouldn't get out of the driveway, while delivering to a home north of Snyder.... pretty far north.
      Gladys finally moved and gave me this come hither look as we were leaving. You can't really tell from my picture, but Gladys is quite 'with child.' I wonder if Gladys was giving me a 'what about me' kind of look.
      Not all deliveries are a jump out, drop-off and get back in the "Bucket" scenario.

Rodney in the "Bucket"

     Rodney and Theresa can't turn down other business. In this weekend's case, they had all the Mother's Day deliveries and two funerals.
     Funerals come with big arrangements. Usually, we can drop the roses, violas, irises in a styrofoam holder in the back of the van.  But when it comes to the big stuff, that calls for a Plan B & that's when Rodney becomes "Cargo Man."
      In the picture, Rodney is bracing about four large arrangements plus the three or four other arrangements braced on tripods. I'm just glad he chose to ride in the back and didn't ask me to hold everything while he drove.
     The funny thing is, the whole while we were delivering with Rodney holding on for dear life, we were talking politics, the future of Snyder and telling stories. Then, he rode back to the shop in the back. His fanny had to hurt.
      Now to my "dumbass" suggestion.  President Woodrow Wilson signed a proclamation in 1914 making Mother's Day the second Sunday in May.  My math is bad, but I think that was 104 years ago that Mother's Day has been held on the second Sunday in May. 104 years!!!
      But..... and this is big..... You'd be surprised by the volume of people (not only men,) who wait til the last few hours to buy anything for Mother's Day.
     So, I suggested a "dumbass" fee to Rodney and Theresa. Of course, they'd never do it, but here's how I see it happening.

     It's the Friday afternoon or later before Mother's Day Sunday and a customer walks into The Blossom Bucket or really any other flower shop. The conversation might look like this....

     "Hi! Can we help you?" asks the business owner.
     "Uh... yeah. I need something for Mother's Day."
     "Okay. Great. We can help you. We have this, this and this."
     "Uh, how much are these?"
     "$49.99 and we can deliver them if you'd like."
     "Ok. I'll take them and yes. I'd like them delivered."
     "Great. That'll be $84.99."
     "Uh... ok... I thought you said $49.99. Is it extra for delivery?"
     "I did and no. We charge a $25 dollar dumbass fee."
     "What?"
     "Yeah. This isn't the first Mother's Day. In fact Mother's Day has been around on the same weekend for 104 years."
     "So, you're charging me for waiting til the last minute?"
     "Yes because you're a dumbass."
     "Okay. I'll take 'em. Can I borrow a pen to fill out the card?"

     Theresa and Rodney would never do this. In fact, they let us leave around 6:00 pm on the Saturday before Mother's Day. But I'm pretty sure they fired up the "Bucket" to make some late deliveries. That's how they roll. They know that the flower arrangement is $49.99, but the smile is worth a MILLION DOLLARS.

     Good job. FLOWER POWER!!

Bill Robertson, Just because people say they live in Hermleigh--they really don't.