Gracie and Me; Covid 19 #13

     I asked someone today if they had time to take a look at an idea I had. They said, "I got nothing but time." The poignant question is, "Do you? Do you really?" The less serious inquiry is, so what are you doing with it.

     Me and Teresa? Hmmm, we're maintaining. We're isolating like so many. And for me at least, I'm daydreaming.

Windmill Ranch Preserve/Snyder, Texas

We're maintaining the Windmill Ranch. I tell people we're glorified innkeepers. We fight off everything from snakes, bees, wasps and some kind of weird circle looking bug to the West Texas dust that can cover everything within minutes. It's not brain surgery.👀

Chicken Express/Snyder, Texas

     I've written in most these blogs about our diet, including my addendum written below. It's absolutely miserable, but it works.
     Eating food, talking about food, seeing food or smelling food is a real thing for me. Just today, we were at the drive through at our bank. I noticed Mart and Carmen Wampler eating in their vehicle outside a popular chicken restaurant. I could almost smell the fried bird while just taking this picture.
I told them my plight.
                   Me: Hi. I'm Bill. I'm writing a blog during these times. Mind if I take your picture? I'm also on a diet and I really like fried chicken.
                   Mart Wampler: (laughing) No go ahead.
                   Me: Are you having the rolls or the biscuits?
                   Mart: The rolls
         Chicken Express has good chicken, but don't miss their rolls. Grand daughter Halli gave us the 411 on them.

Daydream #1/Snyder, Texas

      We get a lot of requests to re-open our Big Apple Deli. The flattery is very flattering, but I'm pretty sure we'll never get back into that business, at least as the on sight operators. But..... but... I sure daydream about creating a restaurant. I just don't want to run it and try to sleep every night with all the headaches that come with it. But, I do daydream.
      Daydream #1 is this old warehouse at the corner of Avenue T and 22nd street. Just up the road is Mrs. Goodwin's house. She makes the best old school, soda biscuits.. The hard kind. They're so thin, you put the butter on top.
      In this daydream, I take the old warehouse, gut the inside but leave the outside almost untouched. The back opens to a grove of trees along our Deep Creek. The inside would be funky rustic. The menu would include good West Texas food with a healthy dose of healthy food as that's the thing these days. Our specialty would be either a fried catfish plate (Snyder loves fish) or a chicken fried steak (Texas loves chicken fried steak.) Also, we'd make the best salads in West Texas. No liquor. We'd serve beer and wine only and have a two drink limit, just like Luigi's, the most popular Italian eatery in Midland.

Daydream #2/Snyder, Texas

     Daydream #2 is this old fire station that's only one block from the downtown square. This might be my Chicken House.
     I'd get one of those big doors operational, but leave the other as just a bunch of windows. The big door would be up or down pending the weather.
     I think you'd walk in and sit down. Immediately, you'd get a basket of Mrs. Goodwin's biscuits with fun butters and jams. Then, it's a help yourself atmosphere. First, a simple salad for your table would be ready and waiting at a central counter. Then, you or someone in your party would be responsible for bringing the chicken and sides to the table. Desserts would be off the charts. Again, we'd have beer and wine, but only a two drink limit.

     Gracie update: She rolled in cow manure today. She's banished from anything inside... kind of.
     Diet update: Maintaining. Lost 22-lbs so far. Teresa's lost more.

Bill Robertson, Texas Monthly says the best chicken fried steak in Texas is at Mary's in Strawn. That's about 2-hrs from Snyder. One and a half if we drive fast.