Great Visit with Friends

This past Sunday we drove down to Whitsett to visit with our friends Bobbie and Jim at their new job. Whitsett is about 80 minutes south of where we are in Schertz, TX (we are just outside of San Antonio). It was so cold and damp this weekend. Brrr….We had arranged to meet Bobbie at the little convenience store just off the exit. We arrived a little early so I could have one of their awesome sliced brisket sandwiches. Wow, they are so good and huge that it took Linda and Bobbie to help me polish it off. I think I mentioned that Bobbie and Jim are working as gate guards at the sites where wells are being drilled. Their well is in the early stages so the traffic is slow in and out of the gate right now.
It was so nice to see them and chat about their new job. It’s taken them a little getting used to as far as their sleeping in shifts to make sure that they cover the 24 hours in a day. Bobbie does nights and Jim does the day shift. While talking to them, it reminded me of all the goofy shifts I’ve had over the years, whether getting up at 2 a.m. to make donuts in my bakery or at 4 a.m. to go to Busch Gardens to work on the grounds crew. I’ve also done 11 p.m.-7a.m shifts for Mr. Donut and would go to Eddie’s truck stop when I got off work at 7 to get a cheeseburger and coleslaw. That was my supper time ! Then go home and sleep the day away. The shift I think I’ve disliked the most, over the years, is the 11 a.m – 7 p.m. I’ve had that as a waitress and also as a shift manager, at Cornell University, and don’t care for it. The whole day is shot. Old memories of bygone days….
Here’s a shot of Bobbie and Jim, in front of their gate. Bobbie had made cookies and those lucky truck drivers were getting a treat when they left for the day. What a lucky crew to have Bobbie and Jim working with them ! We enjoyed our time visiting…we won’t see them again till later this summer when we pass through Colorado.
On Monday night, Linda’s cousin Rob and his wife Karen came over for supper. We went out with them last week so it was great to squeeze in one more visit while we’re in the San Antonio area. I didn’t get any pictures….we were too busy talking about RVing and our dogs that I forgot to take any pictures. We had such a good time with them and as Linda pointed out, there are so many things we have in common with them. They had just lost their dog the other night to cancer so we were reminiscing about our pets and their crazy antics. Our pets give us so much joy and losing one is like losing a child. They both loved Boomer and thought he looked a lot like a dog they used to have.
Temps warmed up today into the 60’s. Supposed to warm up even more tomorrow but rain is moving in tonight (yippee…rain !). Wrapping up here tomorrow….getting hitch itch to get on the road once again !

Is this Texas or Pennsylvania ?

Ok..it’s 8:00 p.m. and it’s 43 degrees outside and supposed to be 33 by morning. What’s with that ? We’re in Texas, land of winter warmth and no snow. I don’t like it. Am now debating what to do about the water supply. Disconnect it….leave it and let it drip. Crap ! We shouldn’t have to make these types of decisions in Texas. Been so chilly and windy that we haven’t even had the trike out since we’ve been here. Hoping that once we get to Montgomery, TX that we’ll have a warm spell and can get the bike out. Keeping our fingers crossed.
On the flip side of that, in the land of warmth…Hawaii…look at these cookies Linda and I have been enjoying. Special cookies that a friend of ours sent us from Hawaii. Some of them were dipped in chocolate. Notice I said “were”…they are all gone now. We practiced restraint as best we could but we love shortbread cookies so it was really tough. Each individually wrapped to maintain freshness. Yummy stuff !
Thursday night Linda and I had dinner with her cousin and his family. She hasn’t seen him since they were kids so we had a great time chatting with them and had a wonderful dinner. Rob and Karen’s two kids, Kyle and Marissa were there and Marissa’s boyfriend. We had a really good time and hope to get together again…perhaps in Bandera.
We are going to drive to Whitsett tomorrow to meet up with our friends, Bobbie and Jim. They are working their first gate guard assignment. Each one takes a shift, since it’s a 24/7 assignment. This will be our last chance to see them till later in the summer so looking forward to spending a little time with them.

Much Needed Rain

The good news from the weekend is ….it rained a lot. The bad news….it rained a lot and we couldn’t get the motorcycle out. It’s raining as I write this. I will gladly trade a weekend of riding for all the rain this part of the country can stand. It’s a blessing to the areas that have been stricken by the drought. It always seems to rain the hardest at the point during the night when I just drift off into the deepest part of sleep (REM perhaps). I don’t know cause about the time the french frying starts on the roof, Boomer makes his way into the loft and across my feet. Such may be the case tonight. Again, I will trade a good nights sleep for much needed rain. Let it rain….
I had a wonderful conversation today with one of our advertisers about all sorts of topics from illegal immigrants, drug cartels in Mexico and the local oil and gas drilling in Texas. All topics native to the Texas region and this gentleman I was speaking to. He told of elderly couples who have owned hundreds of farmland that has become barren and worthless and have now become overnight millionaires. They don’t know how to handle this instantaneous wealth. He told about one guy who gets $500,000 a day in well proceeds ! Amazing, huh ? An elderly couple who sold their mineral rights for $3 million dollars and the wife wept when she had to pay the government $900,000 in taxes, while her accountant consoled her and told her “not to worry…there’s still 2 million left”. How do families like these handle this ? Hard working, “pay-cash-for-everything” kind of folks who now spoil their kids and grandkids with “things” and the kids don’t know what tough knocks their elders went through to get there. The drilling and truck traffic is also upsetting his hunting areas. The constant traffic upsets the deer patterns in the areas around Whitsett where he has some land. I learned a lot that only someone that has lived here their whole life would know from seeing things change over the years and paying attention to things. I love chats like this with my customers !