Presidents day was another good time.

I called Mom early Monday afternoon, after getting back home from class in Florence (yep, one school I work for had class on Presidents Day, the bastards). Dad had called me late Sunday, wanting to know if I was coming over to get him to go eat shrimp. I got the message on my machine too late to do anything about it, so I called to see what was up. I figured he was just confused, but it turned out that Mom had offered him some food choices he didn't particularly care for Sunday night, so he called me tryin' to get a better deal. I tell ya, the man still knows how to work it.


Well, Mom supposedly hit the roof when she found out he'd called, so he ended up eating what she fixed and likin' it. She spoils him rotten, but there's a limit. Anyway, in our conversation Monday morning he once again asked me if I was gonna come and get him so we could go hit golf balls (that's a constant refrain with him). I gave him the usual "Maybe so", and that was that. Then my sister called to tell me that they had huge Egyptian cotton bath sheets on sale at Sam's for like six bucks! Bein' a Sasquatch and all, I loves me some bath sheets. I have a collection. I was interested, but told her, "I already have a bunch of those", but that idea sparked another plan.


I floated the idea to Denise about going over to Temple, visiting with the old folks for a while, gettin' their Sam's card and seein' what we could scrounge up. I'd leave her with Mom and they could visit while I take dad to hit golf balls, and then we'd get back together and run through Sam's like a tornado. THEN, and this is the object of all this runnin' around, we could head over across the highway off 36 and check out that new restaurant/brewhouse over there in the new shopping center that's been on my mind for a bit.


The drivin' range was fun. It always is. I don't know why I don't do that with him more often. Probably some stupid residual childhood thing. You know, if he'd spent more time or just pretended to give a fuck about the things I wanted to do all those years ago, maybe he'd get better treatment now that the shoe is on the other foot, kinda thing. Yea, but screw all that stupid shit. I think I'll try to turn it into a regular thing on Fridays, along with Chinese food, as the weather gets warmer.

After that I took dad home and got Denise and we ran over to Sam's. I ended up getting some huge bags of cat food for like eight or nine bucks a piece, and found some great DVDs. They had Hombre and The Unforgiven, two of my favorite Westerns ever, for about seven bucks a piece, and the 2007 Crossroads benefit concert DVD set (I got the 2006 concert there a while back).


After walkin' around, seein' a few folks I knew, sittin' in a few patio sets that were WAY too expensive, and after plunkin' too much money down for all that shit I really didn't need (ain't it always the case), we headed over to that new restaurant that just went up in a new shopping area there in Temple, on the West side of I-35. They put in this place called BJs brewhouse about three months ago. I'd seen it a while ago and wanted to check it out ever since. It turned out to be a great place, with great food and their own beer, brewed there in site. I didn't have the camera or you'd see how beautiful the place is inside. It's really a cool place to sit and eat, and drink.

I started with a Tatonka Stout, which was a thick, strong tasting drink, not unlike a Guinness. Denise ordered another Shandy, with a mix of Piranha Pale Ale and Sierra Mist (gag a maggot). The appetizer was chips and salsa. OK, I choked. With all the cool sounding stuff on the menu I should have gone for something more exotic, but I think you can tell a lot about a place by ordering something you know and seeing how they do it. They gave us a plate of different colored chips and a bowl of salsa, with a sprig of lettuce underneath it all for decoration. It turned out to be great stuff... A bit too spicy for Denise, but perfect for me.


She ordered the Pot Roast Sandwich, which didn't sound too good to me on paper but tasted amazing when it arrived. I went for the Sourdough Bacon Cheeseburger. Mouth watering good, I wanna tell ya, on a bed of big, thick wedge fries. I had another beer with dinner, this time a Piranha Pale Ale, and was looking forward to tryin' another brand (was dyin' to try their Harvest Hefeweizen), but the dinner ended too soon. I was startin' to feel the beer when we got up to leave. I almost gave the keys to Denise. I know, light weight. So true, but maybe the beer was mixin' with the meds I'm still takin' for the Bronchitis? Who knows. That Stout must have had a slow kick to it. Anyway, both of us are dyin' to go back, so you'll get another report from BJ's in a week or so. Hell, I may have to skip school and go to one of their Beer Appreciation Nights. Sounds like a good time. I'll keep you informed.


After that we did a drive through that new shopping center, seein' what's there, and strolled through a PetsMart to check out the fish and see if they had any cute kittens they were givin' away. Sure enough, six babies, all curled up, sleepin' together, all from the same litter. Hell, that'd give me twelve. Ain't happenin'. We quickly made our exit before Denise fell in love, and headed back to Mom and Dads. As soon as we got there Mom was bustin' out the after-dinner booze. It's hilarious that she loves to do that. When we go over there it's like we're givin' her a special treat, lettin' her cut loose. We sat and sipped a few glasses of something very much like Bailey's, listenin' to Mom tell stories about the old days, and try to fill in the gaps in a few of Dad's old stories (he doesn't remember them the way he used to), and then we headed home.


It was a great time. We'll do it all again soon. Hope you guys enjoyed it too. Finally, here's something hilarious for your political side. Remember the Elephants Grave Yard in the old Tarzan movies? Well...




Cheers.