Bill’s Blog

I think it’s time for a move. Sometime in the next few days I’m gonna shut this puppy down and move to the Forum’s blogs. I’ve resisted the move for awhile because, well in all honesty, I didn’t want to. I like the look of this one and I was a bit worried that it would change how much I share.  On this site, with a limited number of readers I’ve felt comfortable sharing more openly.

I want to thank you guys who’ve checked in now & again for your kind comments. It has been a joy sharing my random little thoughts and the  innocuous tidbits of life in the Powers’ house.

See ya soon - new time, new channe……..l hopefully.

Bp

It blows me away! I can pick up my cell phone and talk clearly with someone hundreds, thousands of miles away. Yet try to place an order at a fast food restaurant and it’s like talking thru tin cans and string. It happens to all of us sooner or later, but since I don’t normally like to eat fast food, it had been awhile since I had the pleasure. Today I was rushed for time so decided to grab something and rip back to the office. I pulled into Bill Miller’s BBQ and noticed a huge line inside, so I pulled around to the drive thru.

Little Box Thingy: Welco…….., may I he oo?

Me: Hi! I’ll have the poorboy plus, with fries and tea.

LBT: Swuuuuuujnd or uns……?

Me: I’m sorry??

LBT: Duhteslkdu remanajkskl??

Me: I guess so.

LBT: LSksnmla nsajj klsapiok??

Me: Pardon?

LBT: O;l;sao ;lskpo slkdo.

Me: Uhhhhh, okay.

LBT: Plllsa;l dr,. lksko

Me: Huh? I don’t understand what you’re asking!

LBT: I……said….Thanks. Please…..drive…..up…to….the…..window.

Me: (Embarrassed) Oh. Okay.

Lucky for me there were a few cars in line ahead of me, so I thought maybe they’ll have forgotten by the time I get to the window. When it was finally my turn to pull up, the teenage girl smiled and said “That……..will……be……..$5.19.” That pissed me off. While I’m whipping out the wallet I’m thinking “why do I have to feel like I’m the stupid one”!! After she returned my change and handed me my lunch I looked at her and asked “Herndoko;lsj”? She looked at me and said “Pardon me?” I just grinned, waved and replied “Fergerongorkl!” and drove off.

Next time I’m doing the walk up.

Bp

Well, it’s 9:00 on Christmas morning. We both just rolled out of bed. Everyone slept in this morning, even the dogs and cat seemed content to start late. Instead of being awaken at their normal 6 am by their low, throaty growls and scratching of the bed that usually signals “Mommy, Daddy! Feed us now, please! Oh, and if you don’t soon let us outside, we shall potty somewhere on the carpet!”, it was the quietness of the morning that stirred me today.
It’s a quiet, cool, foggy morning, not a sound in the neighborhood. This is the first Christmas in memory that we hadn’t awaken at or before the crack of dawn to the excited giggles and stirrings of kids wanting to hit the tree and it’s harvest of “fruit”. My youngest and his family are by now 300 miles into their trip to Iowa and his in-laws and my oldest’s family spent the night at his in-laws across town. So the normal Christmas commotion is elsewhere today.

We had our “Christmas” on Saturday the 22nd. Aaron prepared the prime rib dinner, which has become our traditional Christmas meal and then we opened presents. Sandy and I don’t gift each other (a practice that dates back to earlier, leaner times) but we do gift the kids and Grandkids. Corny as it may sound, we both really get more enjoyment out of giving than actually receiving. It was great fun and one of our best ever Christmases. It did throw the body clock off though, I couldn’t get my brain around the fact that the next morning wasn’t the day after Christmas but actually the day before Christmas Eve. It even makes me dizzy thinking back on it now. Yesterday we took a drive up to Gruene, Tx. for a Sandy Photo shoot. We stopped to eat and were shocked to find the restaurant closed. What idiot closes a restaurant at three in the afternoon??? Then we saw the sign - “Closed for Christmas Eve”. Oh. My bad.

Anyway….it’s a different Christmas morning. On the one hand the peaceful quiet is appreciated, but on the other, I miss the hubbub - you know that sleepy, sand in your eyes, trying to get the coffee made, “hold on, just a second kids”, feed the dogs, still in your pj’s and the floor is cold on your bare feet routine that is Christmas morning. Today it’s been replaced by a leisurely cup of coffee, Estes web cam (got to have a white Christmas one way or another), check in with my Forum’s family and this blog entry. We’ll see what the rest of the day brings, as we try to remember that today is still Christmas - a celebration of the birth of Jesus and not a celebration of Santa and the gifts “he” brings. Maybe this is supposed to be how it really should be. A day to reflect on the gifts He has brought us. As I typed that last line I was convinced that there is truth to that, maybe today we’ll really for the first time in years see Christmas the way God intended.

Like I said, it’s a different kind of Christmas.

Bp

Quite the hook, eh?

The answer is you can’t.

This week here at work we’ve been assailed with all manner of Christmas treatage. Well intentioned gifts of the Holiday meant as a gift of appreciation by our vendors. Just this week alone (today is Wednesday the 19th) we have received a 50 lb. bag of peanuts, a 5 lb. tin of mixed nuts, dozens of assorted cookies, containers of chocolates, 3 big cans of popped corn (assorted flavors) and 20 dozen tamales. All of this for 14 employees. Not a single gift of vegetables or tofu or fruit. And how disappointed would we be if that’s what we did receive. “Oh wow, broccoli!!”

I know. Will power you say. Will power be damned I say! These are gifts. Who am I to turn my nose up at a gift - to disrespect someone’s offering of friendship? Would Child Jesus have spurned such gifts? “Sorry Magi dudes, but frankincense, gold and myrrh just aren’t working for me this year. I’m about veggies.” Oh, I think not. So as a gesture of thankfullness, a token of my appreciativeness I must partake of this bounty with gusto.

So please, hand me a plate. Let’s see….I’ll have a couple of tamales, a handful of cashews, oh, and a couple of those chocolate chip macadamian nut cookies…..

I’m pretty certain I know what my New Years Resolution is gonna be.

Happy munching and Merry Christmas!!

Bp

I grew up with CHRISTmas. It was about the birth of God’s son. It was the virgin birth, a babe in a manger; angels appearing to shepherds, the three wise men bearing their gifts. It was “Peace on Earth, Goodwill Toward Men”. I mean we had the tree (an aluminum one with the colored light wheel - I hated that tree) and exchanged gifts, but my parents always made certain that my brother & I knew what it was really all about. Not that we cared a hoot, because though we acknowledged the spiritual nature of the holiday, it really was for us all about the loot. School was out for 3 weeks of Christmas holidays and our town had a Christmas tree all lit up in Alamo Plaza. The stores had Christmas sales and “Merry Christmas” banners were draped across the State Capitol.

Somewhere along the way, things changed. The symbols of CHRISTmas have become the symbols of Chri$tma$. Or more accurately, the symbols of “winter holiday”. The star over Bethlehem has been replaced by the searchlights over Best Buy, the babe in a manger by Frosty or Rudolph. The virgin birth has been replaced by 50% Tuesdays at Kohl’s or Foley’s Red Apple sale. The schools in town next week will close for “winter break” and the city erected it’s holiday tree last week. We have received 23 cards in the mail from friends and family 18 of which wish us a festive holiday. I bear no ill will toward elves, snowmen, holiday trees, Santa (I actually kinda dig on Santa - he has cool stuff) or even the commercialization of the holiday. But I do take offense to the exclusion of the reason we have a time of celebration in the first place. It would be so much easier to accept this “change” if not for that. I’m good with you happy holidaying and holiday lighting and holidaying all day long, but why must I forfeit my right to proudly, boldly celebrate the birth of a baby that changed my life and for that matter - the world.

It just ain’t right.

So from me to you

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Bp

When I was a kid I used to think that the longest day of the year had to be Christmas Eve. My God, the slow, painful agony as the clock would seemingly take hours between the tick and the tock. Now, as a quasi-adult, Christmas Eve has been replaced by Thanksgiving Eve. As I write this it is 2:45 pm. It feels like I’ve been here for 16 hours. Only another 2 hours and 15 minutes, but at the “Holiday Conversion Rate” thats another 6 hours!!

It’s been busy by holiday standards, which is an issue of its own. I was so looking forward to spending some quality time on the net and an early release. But no. It’s busy enough to dictate hanging around, but the day is passing so slow!!

Please hurry, 5 o’clock. Please??

Bp

Small things make such a big difference.

As a kid, we used to go visit my Grandfolks up in Missouri every summer. Two things have always stood out in my mind from those days. My Grandpa whopping one of his mules between the eyes with a stick to get it to move and his rocking chair. While he would be out working his field I would sit in his rocker on the porch and watch farm life unfold. At the end of the day he would come up to the house and tell me “Boy…..out’n mah rocker. Ya need to get your own!” I knew he was kidding but I would relinquish it to its rightful owner with pleasure.

Magical stuff happened in that chair. In the evenings my aunts & uncles would come over and do some “pickin’ ” and there would sit Grandpa, in his rocker, picking on his banjo and the world would just feel all right to a 6 year old boy. I would sit with him on Sunday’s as he whittled and talked to me about his week in the fields, about how Jesse James and his gang used to hang out in these parts. About that big gator out in his tool shed that would eat a “little’un” like me if I ever went out there without him. I would watch him sit there, rocking, while scolding Grandma about how she didn’t know the first thing about her gardening. I remember watching my Aunt Helen sit in that rocker holding my newborn cousin, rocking her to sleep and singing a lullaby. That baby wouldn’t sleep a wink all night but pop into that chair……lights out!

All my life I have wanted a rocker for myself. There always seemed to be something else to spend the money on, but this past weekend I just flat decided I was gonna get one. Right then and there. Sandy & I found the perfect chairs (Grandma’s need a chair too!) at The Unpainted Furniture Store. We took them home (I’m not trusting anyone on delivering these babies), stained them and set them out back on the deck.

Sunday the family came over for BBQ and as I sat there rocking, with Carson on my lap all those memories came flooding back. Things I hadn’t thought of in almost 50 years (I cannot believe I’m old enough to say that!!). I gotta admit (and I’ll deny it if you tell anyone) that I got a bit choked up.

What I’m looking for most is the day I come home, go out back and tell one of my Grandkids - “Boy…..out’n mah rocker. Ya need to get your own!”

Bp

(Next, maybe I’ll pick me up a mule. That could be fun.)

I think I need to take vitamins. I was hoping that beer would give me my minimum daily requirement of essential vitamins, but alas, apparently not.

I’ve been dragging major butt (tight tho’ it is, it was still dragging) and had zero energy. It was even a chore to think. I tried everything to perk up but to no avail. The first few days I just figured I was having my monthly cycle (don’t even go there), but a few days became a few weeks and it was really starting to get to me. Ya’ll that know me, know what a smart *ss I can be, but I couldn’t even muster up enough oomph for that! I can’t tell ya how much it hurts to miss an opportunity to laugh.

Yesterday we had a nice little cool front pass thru, bringing my favorite weather - cool & gray. Today is much the same. I was thinking “Great. At least the weather matches my mood.” but to my surprise, I actually started feeling better. I find it ironic that gray days actually pick my spirits up. I don’t understand what is going on, but I probably need to get it checked. Of course I’ll find out it’s menopause or terminal baldness and that’ll just set me back again.

Anyway…for here and now, I finally feel good again so I guess I better get out there and take advantage of my “gift” and start embarrassing myself every chance I get.

Thanks for listening - have a nice , gray day!!!

Bp

(An afterthought - why in the world do people put in their Blog’s, stuff that they would never, ever share face to face with folks? It is a good outlet to write it all down, but my God, what if people are reading this and making character assumptions based on what snippets I’ve thrown out? Yikes, maybe I’m insane?? Oh well, it is what it is!)

That is the question. Is this an exercise in futility?

They managed to get the head board delivered in one piece finally! It’s all put together and crying out for me to go take a nap on it.

I guess 13 days, 3 deliveries and 1 ulcer aren’t too much to pay. Next purchase, I’m picking up!

Bp