BUSY!

Yep, busy. It all started in the middle of last week. Denise and I went down to Austin Wednesday night and took in a show.



Joe Bonamassa was playin' at the Paramount Theater down town. I took the little camera Denise gave me for Christmas and was able to capture a few good, if a bit shaky videos.

I had to film surreptitiously. The ushers at the Paramount jumped all over people who were tryin' to take pictures that last time we went there. They've jumped me for taking pictures there before, so I was one handing this thing down the end of my knee, tryin' to keep Joe in focus and the center of the screen. You be the judge.


Thursday was a regular day. Down to Florence, then San Saba, and then I drove back to Killeen and onto Ft. Hood to give finals to two of my evening classes. As I was driving onto the base I realized that my stickers are about six months out of date. They expired in October of 2009, but the guards have been wavin' me through all this time. Security's tight!

So, after finishing the finals and getting out of class I had to go by the sticker place and get mine renewed. I was easy though. The later you show up to that place the fewer people are standing there in line.



Next morning, because most of my Florence kids would be gone for some school activity, I took the morning off. I arranged for the few folks who would show up to be sent to the library and Denise and I slept in.

I got on the road by 10:30 and headed to San Saba. I had to go in Friday to make up for the classes I'd missed to go to the concert. The drive was painless, and classes went smooth as usual. Like fallin' off a log. And seein' as how the Dairy Mart is open later than usual on Friday...



Yep, I went by for my usual treat, with a twist this time. A large order of onion rings to go with that Jalapeno Sourdough bread Bacon Cheeseburger... All the way, with mustard and mayo. Bliss!

I didn't get home from Saba until a little after 9PM Friday night, so there was no time to take Denise out or go get mom and have our regular Friday night dinner. Further more, with all this goin' on I'd forgotten to call mom and tell her what I was up to. So you can guess what I heard Saturday morning when I finally remembered to call. "Where the hell have you been?"

Saturday afternoon, while I was sprayin' poison on my crop of weeds, a former student from Florence drove up to show me his new toy.



John Jaeger was one of the smartest kids I ever taught down there. His sister is even smarter, which is to say, she doesn't have as many distractions as John has. He's recently been married, and he's in the Marine reserves. he says he's going to Afghanistan soon.

Anyway, he contacted me on Facebook last week to say that he wanted to bring his new 383 Nova by to show it to me. He wanted to let me drive it too...



But there was an issue. he's got a loose wire that causes the car to die at inopportune moments. He got it into my driveway and shut it off to show it to me, but when I got in to start it up for my joy ride it wouldn't start.

Long story short, after I showed him my toys... the big blue safe... we sat around and I shared a Yuengling with him, which he enjoyed, he tinkered with the wiring until it got going. By that time it was time for him to head out. Once he got it going he didn't want to take any chances. He waved good-bye and pealed out, burnin' a long black stripe in the road in front of my house. I'm sure all my little old neighbors were pissed, but I loved it. He says he's got someone workin' on the rats maze of old wires and that he'll bring it back up and let me drive it soon. I can't wait!

After that, Denise and I went to work cleanin' out our cars. I got out the shop vac and went to work while she shampooed the mats.

By the time we were done with that it was time for me to grab by laundry and head over to Temple. Denise was too pooped to go. I hosed myself down, gathered up my dry cleanin' and headed to the drive-by laundry in 57th, and then over to get mom.



It was my turn to pay, so you know where I wanted to go. The general's Chicken and Shrimp Fried Rice were in rare form. I tossed a few more shrimp and crab bits in there for good measure and mixed it all up. Mmmmmm, good.



Mom was too. She's doin' fine, and loves herself some of the generals chicken too.



After we stuffed ourselves we decided to do a run up to the cemetery so she could show me the nice flowers she put on everyone's plot. That was a quick drive-by, and then it was back to her place for an after-dinner tipple.

Yep, It was a busy several days, so even though we had stuff to do, Sunday had to be set aside for relaxation. Denise and I slept in and then rolled around most of the day. She put a great stew in the crock pot and when it was ready we shared it. It was a wonderful day.

Now I'm back in San Saba, sittin' here in the library, workin' this post out on my laptop, tryin' to get it finished so I can get outta here and give yet another exam.

I took advantage of the fact that we had substitute guards in the education building today. After my noon class finished their exam one of the offenders asked if we could get out of class early. I told him to go ask, thinking there was no way we'd get away with it. Sure enough, I was out of there by 1:30 and off to the Dairy Mart for the fourth time in as many weeks. I'm tellin' ya, I've GOT to stop eatin' like this... Some day. Gettin' away with shit is so much fun! Cheers!