On the Road Again: Texas to Tennessee (Great visit, Great eats and Great restrooms)

     I have absolutely no reason to start this blog with this picture except that I'm hungry and it's the first picture I took on our recent trip to Tennessee to see sons, Jack and Joe, daughter-in-law Allison and Joe's fiance, Sharon. 

Sunny Side Dinner/Weatherford, TX

     Covid-19 be damned! Teresa and I recently mustarded the gumption to get WAY out of our comfort zone and head east to Nashville. I think we're probably the minority, but we take C-19 very seriously. We take it so seriously that we drove 30-hours round trip vs flying. It's very safe to say that we do not believe that Covid will end on November 3rd. 

Sharon, Joe, Jack & Allison/Nashville,TN

     Covid's interrupted more of our family gatherings than we can count. Joe and Sharon had to postpone their April wedding until November, we had to delay a scheduled trip to Tennessee not once, but twice, we missed our granddaughter's third birthday, we didn't go to Teresa's son Cody's 34th birthda party, Easter didn't happen with family like it's supposed to, Joe and Sharon's west Texas visit disappeared and my niece's college admission and all that excitement came and went. 

     We take Covid seriously, but we finally came to a potentially deadly decision and we don't take it lightly. 

Missed Opportunities

     Our conversation to risk exposing ourselves to Covid went something like this:

    Teresa: "This is terrible. We're missing life with our kids."

    Me: "I know. What should we do?"

    Teresa: "What do you think we should do? We're gonna die somehow-some way. I offer dying by covid is worth it IF it means seeing our kids."

    Bill: "I'm good with that."

     So, Covid be damned we're seeing our kids.

     With that said, we drove 30-hours round trip to see Jack, Joe, Allison and Sharon in Nashville and it was worth every tick on the thermometer even if we came across some very sad, but true circumstances.

Sad Stories/Nashville, TN

     See the lady driving in this picture? That's our Lyft driver. She's normally a full time employee at the Gaylord Nashville. It's a huge place with hundreds of rooms, dozens of conference quarters and at least a dozen restaurants too. But there's a reason she's driving a Lyft.

     Teresa: "So you work at the Gaylord? What's that like right know?"

     Driver: "Slow."

    Teresa: "How slow?"

    Driver: "We're at two percent."

    If you don't think Covid-19 is real, you really gotta get out town. Whole conference centers are still mostly closed. There's not a McDonalds between Snyder, Texas and Nashville open for a clean bathroom stop. A popular tourist area in downtown Little Rock called the RiverMarket is like a ghost town. It's very real and you're fooling yourself if you think November 3rd is the answer.

Puckett's Market & Restaurant/Franklin, TN

     Here's another good example of the terrible effect Covid's having. The above photo is from Puckett's Market & Restaurant in Franklin, Tennessee, arguably the quaintest city in the south. Normally, Puckett's would be wall to wall people with a line outside. Not this visit. We had our table. There was another behind us and only a few more. That's all. It was very sad.

Royse City, Texas

     But what's a trip without some crazy stuff too and by that I mean Buc-ee's. Oh my. What a place. We stopped at the new one in Royse City, east of Dallas. 

Buc-ee's/Royse City, Texas

     We got some treasures, drooled over the donuts and kalaches, picked over the sweet smelling pecans and cashews and we used their amazing restrooms. Have you ever seen so many urinals. If you're ever on the road and need a potty.... Don't pass up a Buc-ee's.

    Random Thought of the Day: It really hurts my heart the division that exists in country these days. November 3rd will not be a Silver Bullet because Covid is real. 

    Gracie update: She stayed with her friends at Klip n' K-9s in Snyder and we're told she loved every minute of it.

Bill Robertson (9/28/20,) Jack, Joe, Allison and Sharon all looked GREAT! 

     Here's a not so chronological list of our fun. 

     

My Favorite Nurse and Crazy Hospital Band-Aids

      My favorite nurse had a birthday today. She's my favorite nurse because I've seen her for about two times a week in the last month or so, since I gashed my right shin falling down stairs.

Whitney & Me

     She's Whitney Brown and she's pretty much held our hand every time we've been told to return to Dr. Burleson for leg inspection.

     Today, we learned it was Whitney's birthday which was the icing on the cake for our relationship with Dr. B's chief nurse. 

Happy Birthday Whitney/Cogdell Memorial Hospital

     I won't tell you how old she is. I didn't ask, but I read it on her Facebook page. She's been through a lot this year. Of course, who hasn't. But to be on the front lines every single day and tell us, "I love my work," that's dedication and caring. So to you Whitney... Thank you for all you do and thank you for the care you've given to me and the peace of mind you've given to Teresa and myself. 

The Lil' Band-Aid That Could

        Sidebar: I still have the band-aid that I got for my Tetanus shot after my fall almost six weeks ago. I don't know what kind of band-aids they use at Cogdell Memorial Hospital, but if you ever fall down stairs, get a Tetanus shot and need a good band-aid... Go to CMH. Great care and weird, sticky band-aids. 

     Random Thought of the Day: My broccoli is smelling up the house. I need to check it.

Bill Robertson (9/9/20,) Did I tell you that Whitney's son is 6'6". Can you imagine the grocery bill. :)

Gracie and Me: Covid-19 #80 (The Last C-19 Blog)

      The best customer service in the WORLD comes from a tiny, donut shop in Snyder, I hugged  a woman this week who I'm pretty sure thought that I was crazy, hospitals have the best band-aids and I'm tired of Covid. I'm tired of writing about Covid. And, I've very tired of people making fun of Covid. This is my last Covid blog.

Tiger Donuts/Snyder America

     Lil' sister Julia and nephew were coming through town today. Luke, the nephew, is a teenager. We figured that he'd eat and eat a lot. So, I went to TIGER DONUTS this morning. I ordered 1/2 dozen glazed, a 1/2 dozen chocolate glazed, a 1/2 dozen Old Fashioned and a 1/2 dozen Caleches. I know that sounds like a crazy amount, but a teenage boy is a grazer and 18-donuts and six-caleches are like a side salad to us older folks.

    Whatever you do, STOP and go through the drive-through at Snyder Donuts. I don't know the woman's name. I don't know if she's the owner. All I know is that when I drove off with my 18-donuts and six caleches that I was happy and joyful.. In fact at one point, she offered me some of her multi colored peppers that another customer brought to her. Don't miss Tiger Donuts. The donuts are great. The attitude is off the charts......

She's Zelma, Not Gail/Snyder, TX

     Masks can hide a person's true identity. I hugged a woman at the grocery store yesterday who looked at me like I was a nut... and she had good reason.

    I thought she was my friend Gail Snyder. And apparently, it wasn't the first time that I thought she was my friend Gail. Here's what happened yesterday.

     Me: (with my arm around her shoulders,) Hi! How are you?

     Woman: I'm good. How are you?

    Me: Great. Good to see you. How's Max?

     And this is where the conversation went south. All of a sudden, the woman had this look on her face that scared me. I thought, "Oh my, Gail's husband Max has died." Although I haven't kept up with Max and Gail in recent years, they were both a crucial part of my WTX acclimation.

     That's when the woman, who I'm hugging like we're the best of friends, let me off the hook.

     Woman: "I don't think I am who you think who I am."

     Me: "Oh. You're not Gail?"

     Woman: "No and I wasn't the last time we talked either."

     Me: "Y'all were going camping! That wasn't Gail and Max?"

     Woman: "No."

     Me: "Then, who are you?"

     It turns out the woman is/was Zelma Irons. She worked at the WTC library and it was Teresa's stepmother who hired her for the job. So in the end, we laughed about my mask-mistake, but appreciated the weird connection we made at Check-out #4.

Bandaid Perfection/My Right Arm

     I've written in a previous blog about my leg. I fell down stairs and hurt my right leg pretty bad. I've been for a "nurse's visit" at least 12-times in the last six weeks. But, it's the very first visit that got me thinking.

     During that first visit, the nurses asked "When was your last Tetnus shot?" I said, "Last century." They said, "Well, you're getting another one now.:"

     They gave me the shot and put a band-aid on my arm. Crazy thing is that after six weeks, THE BAND-AID IS STILL THERE! What's the adhesive? Cement. Bottom line is, if you want band-aids forget aisle 12 at the grocery store. Go for a "Nurses Visit" at Cogdell Memorial Hospital.

     So that's it. I'm tired of Covid. I'm tired of writing about Covid. I'm tired of some making fun of Covid. And, we as a family are very tired of Covid interrupting our plans with those we love.

     Diet, dog and the random thought of the day forthcoming. For now, COVID-out!

Bill Robertson (9.7.20,) I had donuts today for the first time in about a year. They didn't suck.

     

     

Gracie and Me: Covid-19 #79

     Teresa's a medicine woman, we've been to knick-knack hell and our wireless Joey is communicating with our Hopper, but the aspect isn't perfect. I'll explain all the above and more with pictures worth a thousand words.

Thank Goodness T Cut My Toenails/Snyder, TX

     In my last blog, I wrote about my tumble down our "stairs of death." This is exactly the second week of my slippery slide and my toes and wound are doing much better. Teresa's been a patient and thorough medicine woman through it all. Each morning, I get slathered in a white cream, gauzed up and then wrapped with an ACE bandage. I sit back in a comfortable chair, hold each the scissors, the tape, the gauze and etc. All the while, T calls out, "Tape. Scissors. Gauze." 

Knick Knack Hell/Scurry Co., TX

     I can't say I wouldn't have fallen down the stairs if  we didn't move, but I can say we took a short trip to Knick-Knack hell because of the move.

    Who knew that we had so much unnecessary, decorative stuff. Geez. I've bought more bubble wrap, packing tape and U-Haul boxes in the last month than I've bought in my entire life. 😖😖😖And let me tell you this... That fun thing everyone does with bubble wrap can really get on your nerves when wrapping the umpteenth breakable Knick-Knack.

Waterbugs/Snyder, TX

     The coolest part of our move is that we moved into a house with a pool and that means fun for the family. We knew the grands were water bugs, but now we know that they're SUPER waterbugs.

Waterbug/Snyder, TX

     Speaking of moving... Moving might be more painful than having teeth pooled without anesthesia or akin to the scene in The Marathon Man when Laurence Olivier is drilling into Dustin Hoffman's front tooth while asking; "Is it safe?"

I Want My MTV/Dire Straits, 1985

     One of the not so painful things, but tremendously things is the lapse in modern technology during a move. It seems almost criminal to whine about it considering the multitudes who moved across our country in a wagon, but.... Moving and waiting for TV and a good internet connection is indeed aggravating. No disrespect to the Bonner party.

     Gracie update: She is significantly traumatized by the move. I think she's constipated too. I have no idea where she's pooping, but it's not in our yard.

     Diet update: It's very hard to follow the rules when it's easier to order a pizza, but we're both okay. T announced this morning that the scales were in the laundry room. She said that she'd gained only two pounds during all this. I didn't weigh myself, but thought: "Wow! We actually have an indoor laundry room because we haven't in the last four to five years."

 

     Random thought of the day: Our city council's on the verge of approving incentives to pave the way for a multi-million dollar housing project, but they're waffling because opponents are worried. How do you convince worried people that a plan really is a good plan for the bigger picture?

Bill Robertson (8/13/20,) You always get what you pay for. DON'T BUY THE CHEAP PACKING TAPE!!!!"

Gracie and Me: Covid-19 #78

     A buck naked man on Hole #8 startled us and I was the buck naked man who slid on my fanny down a flight of stairs. 😬 I think that's the best lead sentence I've ever written because it's completely true and I hope it kept your attention.

     Teresa and I escaped the severe, West Texas heat for a few days for the cool, comfortable mountain air of Pagosa Springs, Colorado. It's 7,750 feet above sea level and we felt every bit of it.. Good and bad. 

Pagosa Springs, Colorado

     The naked man showed up on our first full day. We got up determined to mind our diet, get some exercise and rusticate as best we could. Hole #7 wasn't that big of a deal. It's a dogleg left with sand traps guarding the green. But believe me, Hole #8 with the Naked Man sure got us picking up our pace! 😅

     We were on the cart path, starting at the tee box. The Naked Man exposed himself at about the 150-yard marker. 

Naked Man On #8/Pagosa Golf Course

     T: "There's a man naked in his doorway."

     Me: "Huh?"

     T: "There's a naked man to our left."

     Me: "Where?!"

     T: "To our left, about your eight o'clock."

     Sure enough, there he was. Naked as naked gets. He was standing there stretching behind his sliding glass window. Either he didn't care or he thought his window wasn't see through. He was far enough away that we couldn't see details. But he was close enough that we almost jogged the last 150-yards to the green. 

Lunch with a View/Pagosa Springs, CO

     I wish I had a picture of all the people completely disregarding the Social Distancing Guidelines. It would've been absolutely comical if I/we couldn't get the 'dumbass' quotient out of our heads. I mean bars, restaurants and more jam packed, with mostly Texans... No one wearing a face mask.😭😱😱😱

     We avoided all those places, got our food while wearing masks, stood waaaaaay back from anyone but ourselves and took our culinary eats back to our home away from home. 

Great Food Gets Big Picture/Thai Pagosa

     I celebrated my birthday while in Pagosa and treated myself to two of my favorite things: Chinese food and Golf Stuff.https://thaipagosa.wordpress.com/

     If you ever travel to Pagosa Springs, you gotta stop at a tiny little place called Thai Pagosa . It's about as big as a mall kiosk and the menu is absolutely impossible to read, but it's really, really good.

Calloway Fitting/Pagosa Golf Club

     But before my dumplings and noodles, I did something I've never done in my 48-years of playing golf. I've taken lessons since I was 10-years old. I've bought clubs and played courses from Las Vegas to Albuquerque to Myrtle Beach, but I've never had a club fitting. What a tremendous experience! Suffice it to say, I'm anxiously awaiting our UPS driver.

Smashed Mailbox/Snyder, TX

     Coming home has been interesting and a little painful to say the least. First, we went to check our mail and our mailbox looked like this. I'm guessing a right handed person with a baseball bat had a hand in it. We bought a new mailbox. The check out lady at the hardware store said, "We sure have been selling a lot of mailboxes this week." So, we guess the good news is that our smashed box was a completely random act by a bunch of bored kids. 

Ouch/Cogdell Memorial Hospital

     And now to complete my lead sentence. I fell down our stairs this week. I was in the shower and started to smell electrical smoke. That's when...

     T: "Bill! There's smoke in the house! Get out!"

     Me: "I smell it. Okay." I checked the hot water heater, which is upstairs and all was okay. I wrapped a towel around myself and started down our 'stairs of death.'

     T: "It's downstairs. Look at all the smoke!"

     Me: "Yep, I see it. Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh craaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaap." Bump, bump, bump, bump, bump..."

     My feet slipped out from me. I hit my fanny and then hit every step on the way down. My right leg got pinned under a wooden framed couch and pulled the hide back on my shin like the Toughest Pawnee played by West Studi in "Dances with Wolves" scalped Timmons after he ate the really hot bacon. It hurt and still hurts a lot. Been to the doc twice in 24-hours. The nurses really need to work on not saying, "Oh no."

     Gracie Update: She stayed at her favorite place while we were out of town. It's Klipin K-9s https://www.facebook.com/Klipnk9s/ and she loves it. 

     Diet Update: We exercised so much that even though we had sandwiches and lots of Chinese neither T nor myself gained more than a pound or two.

     Random thought of the day: I've lived with the 'stairs of death' for 12-years and never slipped. 

Bill Robertson (7/31/20,) I think the buck naked man on #8 was about my size. 😁😁😁

     

Gracie and Me: Covid-19 #77

     Covid is stealing joy, but not mine. Who needs 80-days to go around the world? Not me. And who thinks an old Snyder building highlighted on Google Earth isn't worth saving? Not me, again.
     It's crazy, but there are people out there who believe C-19 is a hoax, a conspiracy or an intentionally created virus to deter population growth n China that 'got out of hand.' I can't fix that. I'd rather use my joy focusing on other things. Unfortunately, many are not and Covid's stealing joy.

Hallo/That's Swiss for Hello

     So with that said, I took a trip around the world. It took about 15-minutes. Google Earth is the BOM!
     I'm not sure how or why, but I started at the Matterhorn. I think that's in Switzerland. Actually, I know it is because when I attended San Antonio Academy our Geography Teacher, Mr. Jones, would read stories about the Matterhorn.

Hello. My name is John. Who do I have the most Excellent Pleasure of Talking To/Click Like if you get it.

     From Switzerland, I caught a ride on the information super highway and sped off to India. I have no interest in India except I loved the movie, "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel." Great movie. Judi Dench is fantastic when she teaches the Indian telemarketers how to talk to people who really speak English. That's a clue for the picture's caption.😀

The Pearl Bridge/Japan

     Next, I jumped on that crazy super highway and ended up crossing a big, long, wonderfully engineered suspension bridge in Japan. It's called. the Akashi Kaikyo Bridge. The locals call it the Pearl Bridge and it's considered Japan's finest engineering feat. It's 12,831 feet long. I saw every bit of it and I'm not even tired.

Save the Boren Building/Snyder,Texas

     After that, it was time to come home to Snyder, America. So, I typed in Snyder, Texas in the Google Earth search bar and look what Google Earth has selected to highlight in my hometown.
     That's the historic Boren Building on the southside of the square. It dates back to who knows when. It's named after the famous Boren family and housed so many businesses. Unfortunately, it's vacant and falling into disrepair. A similarly older and abandoned building across the street, that once housed Snyder's first bank and my dad's law office, was demolished in recent years. Hopefully, the same fate is not in store for Snyder's Boren building.

     I'm skipping the Word of the Day because to tell you the truth, it's a pain in the neck to look up. First, I gotta shift tabs, type in 'word of the....' and wait for it. Then if I don't know the word, I gotta double check spelling, figure out what it means, re-type the sentence, yada yada. It's a pain.

     So instead, I'm now going with RANDOM GOOD MEMORIES: #1) Riding my pony "Daisy" here at Randals Corner. By the way.... This feature will never include children's births, weddings, engagements, etc. Those are too easy. It's called RANDOM GOOD MEMORIES.

     Gracie Update: Needy!
     Diet Update: T went to get her hair done in Lubbock. I stayed in Snyder and got a Quarter Pounder with cheese. I'm having skinless chicken tonight.

Bill Robertson (7/15/20,) to my very good friend Ben Murphy who's a TOP SHELF CPA and very busy on this Covid "Tax Day," this is your Super Bowl. Who's the halftime show? Lawrence Welk? That's funny. I don't care who you are.😁😁😁😁😁😁

Gracie and Me: Covid-19 #76

     The electric pencil sharpener is the best invention in the world, the pencil eraser is a close second and call me "Mr. Fix-it."

World's Best Invention/The Windmill Ranch, Snyder, Texas

     I remember as a kid that'd I'd use the ole "I need to sharpen my pencil" line as an excuse to get out of my desk. Most times, the sharpener was the manual crank kind but sometimes it was the cool electric version. We have one of those cool kind here at the pavilion and I'm using it to sketch a dream.

The Windmill Ranch/Snyder, Texas

     Every time I mow, I think about what do with an area of the ranch's "People Place" that has all the buried infrastructure but the above ground stuff is not useable and needs to be demolished.

Drawing A Dream/Snyder, Texas

     My dream is create a more familiar looking lodge for everything from AirBnB to family reunions and etc. My plan is four bedrooms each with its own full bath, TVs, sitting areas, king beds and large porches at both the front and back doors. The center of the ranch/barn/farm looking lodge would be a communal area complete with a communal kitchen for guests. We saw one in Taos and it worked great. The central area would also include a dining area, laundry for guests, storage, bathrooms and check-in area. The icing on the cake would be another giant porch stretching from side to side. Out front would be a medium sized pool with a wide apron for lounging in the sun. Out back would be three, 50-to-100 yard golf holes with three tee boxes per hole to equal a nine hole tract. There's nothing like a good dream.

Best Invention #2

     The rub is, I'm a rotten drawer. So thank goodness for a good pencil eraser. This picture is my third or fourth eraser and I haven't gotten past drawing up the guestroom bathrooms. I did buy a ruler the other day. So at least now, my lines are a lot straighter.

FANtastic/Scurry Co, Texas

     I hope you're staying cool. This heat wave is considered dangerously hot. We're doing everything we can to help our air conditioning. As of this weekend, we have no less than five floor fans plus a ceiling fan and our AC on full blast 24/7. The booger is, all those fans don't come assembled. Suffice it to say, the first effort to put together all the parts didn't go so well. But I was able to assemble the last two fans in less than three minutes each. Not brain surgery, but close enough.

     Gracie Update: She loves her new food. It's Kibbles and Bits. It must be akin to great brownie because she gobbles it up. We're figuring it's probably not the healthiest. She hates that stuff.
     Diet Update: I had an Egg McMuffin. It wasn't as good as I remembered but still better than yogurt.

     The Word of the Day is: ABROGATE meaning Repeal or do away with (a law, right or formal agreement.) In a sentence: "A proposal to abrogate temporarily the right to strike."

Bill Robertson (7/13/20,) My favorite candy bar is a Mr. Goodbar or Payday or Baby Ruth or Snickers.