Tag: patience.   Grocery store checkouts

A Crazy May

On By DGThomaIn Family, Travel, Writing2 Comments

What a crazy May we have had.  At least the last part of May has been crazy hectic by my standards.  On Saturday, May 23rd, we left Austin, TX for Tulsa, OK to celebrate my granddaughter’s birthday.  The rain began as we arrived and increased in intensity quickly.

We checked into a hotel.  My daughter was due to fly in to Tulsa around 10:00 PM and our plan was to touch base on Sunday morning.  The heavy rain quickly turned into a dangerous situation, flooding a few areas around town and many of the outlying towns.

Local television stations ceased regular programming and provided constant updates of the flooding situation, including water rescues.  I was also monitoring the flooding situation in Wichita Falls, TX.  I have family in the area and was concerned with their situations.

By 9:00 PM, my daughter had telephoned to say she had been diverted to Wichita, Kansas due to weather conditions in Tulsa.  The main concern was the danger of wind shears.

Around the same time, my phone rang.  My sister was calling to say she was also in Tulsa.  She had come to visit a friend and contacted my daughter to let her know she was in town.  What an oddity to find ourselves miles from our homes, and both in Tulsa in the midst of storms and flooding.20150525_180516

My daughter finally made it in around midnight; my sister and I were safe in our hotels and the rain continued.   On Sunday, a little tired but excited to be together, we had a wonderful birthday celebration for my granddaughter which turned into a slumber party.  My sister and I stayed Sunday night with my daughter and had a wonderful time playing games, laughing and just having fun.  Early Monday morning we left Tulsa for Austin.  The weather cooperated until we neared Waco, TX.  I received a weather alert and text about the same time.  Apparently there was rotation 15 miles ahead and coming our direction.  My friend’s text basically said if you are in Waco take cover unless you’re at Twin Peaks, then keep driving!20150525_160803

With the radio warning we should seek cover immediately, we ducked into a Hastings.  Of course I would find a book store to take refuge!  When the rain lessened and the warning changed from a tornado warning to a severe thunderstorm warning, we decided to try to head home.  When we headed for Interstate 35, we discovered the access roads were underwater and raging.  Trying to avoid the flood waters, we turned away from the interstate and headed through a neighborhood, driving through a downpour and hoping we were moving uphill.  My son pulled out his phone and switched his maps to a topographic map to guide us to higher ground.

We made it safely back on the interstate a few miles down the road.  All the way home we were watching emergency vehicles working accidents, closing roads and rescuing underwater vehicles.

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When we finally made it home, we were relieved to find our roads passable although there was water running across the roads and the ditches were rushing with muddy water.  We pulled into the drive, opened the front door and discovered we had no power.  Since it was just before dusk, it wasn’t quite too dark to see.

A call to the electric company provided an update.  Electricity should be back on by 6:00 AM tomorrow morning.  Absolutely unprepared to return home to no power, we made a quick trip to Wal-Mart for flashlights, batteries, food, etc.

By 6:00 AM the power outage was predicted to last until 6:00 PM.  While we waited for the sunshine to rise and peek through the windows, we slept in.  We had to conserve our phone usage, live without internet or computers and try to keep our food from spoiling.

We had a forced night of relaxation, the water never made it over the porch and our drive didn’t wash out until three days later, but that’s a story for another day.  We were very fortunate.  It seemed we were able to avoid floods, tornados and lightning storms.  My heart and condolences go out to all the flood victims and I am extremely grateful we were spared.

Let it rain, Let it rain…..

On By DGThomaIn Humor/Light Hearted, Musings, WritingLeave a comment

Texas is in a drought as are many other states.  When I first moved to Central Texas 12 years ago, it rained often.  Someone once commented, a 20% chance of rain meant it would rain at least 20% of the afternoon.  And it did rain most afternoons; a light pleasant shower.

Now when rain falls, we cheer.  Rain in Austin often comes in heavy, concentrated downpours that are a deluge and cause flooding.  But we welcome any rain with glee.Rain Clouds

Last week, we had rain in Austin, Texas.  Rain fell hard and fast and it was wonderful.  I love the rain and smiled happily, as it poured.

Austin drivers are more courteous than I have experienced in other large cities.  There is a sense of camaraderie rarely found in commuter traffic.  But, drivers in Austin don’t just forget how to drive in the rain, they become ridiculous risk takers.  I wonder if the rain is so miraculous that it makes them feel invincible.

Last week, we were driving to work, rain pounding, and visibility a quarter of a mile.   The dry ponds along the highway were teeming with the brackish rain water.  As we drove through an intersection in heavy commuter traffic, a small dark car entered the flow from the left.  The car shot across four lanes to access the McDonalds parking lot on the far right. I hope the Egg McMuffin was worth jeopardizing themselves and dozens of other cars!

Remarkably, everyone survived and I heard no metal on metal screeching.  Inching forward we moved toward the next traffic light which was green.  Suddenly, the Super Shuttle van in front of us pumped the brakes and came to a full stop at the green light.  Expecting the driver to look up and move forward, we waited unable to change lanes.  We assumed he would wake soon.  Nope!  The light turned red while we were still waiting.

I could just imagine the driver, looking back at the passengers and calling, “Don’t make me come back there!”  Followed by, “I’m not moving until you settle down!”  The light changed back to green and the van made an illegal left turn from the center lane.  “Ah,” I thought.  “Missed his turn.”

As we move into 2015 I hope the drought comes to an end.  Perhaps if it does, Austin drivers will remember that when it rains you should exercise caution.

Memories of A Middle Child

On By DGThomaIn Family, Food, Writing4 Comments

Growing up in a family of 5 children is lovely and maddening.  As family position goes, I am right in the middle. To my older sister and brother, I was the baby.  To my two younger sisters, I was one of the big kids.  Honestly I was probably more the baby since we three older siblings were so close in age.  My oldest sister was born on July 6th, 18 months later in January my brother was born.  Queue forward to July 6th 18 months after my brother was born; I was born.  Yes I was born on my sister’s third birthday.  How I love to remind her, I am wonderful gift!

Whichever I am, one of the oldest or the baby, I was very shy and terribly dependent on my mother when I was young.  So when my grandparents invited me to spend a week with them in Rush Springs, OK, no one thought I would go.  Especially not my mother, who assured me no one, would be able to come pick me up before the next weekend.

Hello world!
Hello world!

But I did go and I had the time of my young life.  For just one week, I went from being the middle child with four siblings to becoming an only child.  For one entire week, I had my grandparents completely to myself and was allowed to wander around the farm on my own.  I named each chicken and watched them pecking the ground for hours.  I climbed the apple tree and I talked to my grandparents.  I felt like a princess.

My two favorite memories of the week were the weekly trip to the grocery store and my grandmother making lemon pudding.

The grocery store was unlike any grocery store you would find today.  It was a small locally owned store crowded with shelves of canned goods, dry goods and fresh produce.  But my most vivid memory was the “drawing”.  We had been wandering the narrow aisles, mostly window shopping, but a few things made their way into the cart.

Suddenly, it got quiet in the store and Mr. Teal, the grocery store owner called out, “Who wants a ticket.  One dollar for a chance at this week’s basket of groceries.”  A current of excitement moved through the crowd.  Understanding my grandparents were extremely conservative with their money, I was shocked when my grandfather was one of the first people to pay a dollar for a ticket.

What a wondrous thing it was.  It was my first experience with the pure joy of chance and anticipation.  For only a dollar, there was a chance to take all those groceries home for free.  Mr. Teal drew numbers from a cup and called a few numbers.  I watched my grandfather’s face.  With the complete faith of youth, I waited for him to go collect the groceries.  Of course our number wasn’t drawn and we left without the groceries.

Even though I was disappointed when we didn’t win, I remember vividly, how I felt waiting with my grandparents for the “drawing.”  It still makes me smile.

My other favorite memory was of my grandmother making a lemon pudding in the large country kitchen.  She stirred fresh milk into a sugary mixture in a pot on the stove-top.  She was making a pudding and I asked if she was making a banana pudding.  My mother often made wonderful banana pudding with vanilla wafers.  She said she was making a lemon pudding and we were going to put lemon cookies on top!  Then she explained she always put sugar cookies on vanilla pudding and lemon cookies on lemon pudding!  I have no idea why that was so remarkable to me but I always thought it was extremely creative!

There were so many good memories from than that week but these two memories transport me back to my grandparents farm and a wonderful week with two of my favorite people.

Catching flies with honey, Why?

On By DGThomaIn Family, Food, Friends, Humor/Light Hearted, WritingLeave a comment

The real question is can you really catch more flies with honey?  And why would you want to catch more flies?  Not me!  But a loose translation of “nice things happen when you behave nicely” sounds a little better.

You hear a lot about people doing nice things for total strangers, otherwise known as random acts of kindness.  I think that’s awesome, and I wish I remembered to do it more often.

Honey? and Flies?

I recently had a great experience at Starbucks and it wasn’t because I had invented and ordered the largest and most obnoxious combination I could find.

My sister, Deb and I were meeting on the road midway between our respective homes.  She lives on the Texas coast and I live in Central Texas.

We met in the parking lot of a shopping center and after exchanging boxes and bags; we decided to grab a coffee for the road from the Starbucks across the street.

The store wasn’t particularly crowded when we walked in which looked promising.  However, when Deb tried to pay for her drink, the computers went down.  A manager came and took over the register but still couldn’t get the transaction to process.  My son and I were next in line and the barista and manager kept apologizing for the delay.

My son, Rich previously managed a retail store, so he just smiled and said he understood.  He assured them both that it was not a problem.  It was probably only 6 or 7 minutes of waiting. Rich entertained us all, the employees included, with jokes and stories. We all laughed and enjoyed ourselves despite the situation.

When my son and I were finally able to place our order, I handed them cash, since they seemed to still be having trouble with the card reader.

The manager shook his head and said, “No charge, you guys were great.  I’m sorry for the wait. ” What a wonderful surprise!  Maybe our drinks would still have been free if we had grumbled and complained, but the mood would certainly have been different for all of us.  (And yes my sister’s drink was also free!)

I’m not saying that I am never the grumbling complaining customer, but it was a wonderful reminder that sometimes being pleasant pays off.  Thank you Mr. Starbuck’s manager for making our day a little brighter!

 

The All Too Common Condition

On By DGThomaIn Family, Food, Humor/Light Hearted, WritingLeave a comment

…Of having no patience.   Grocery store checkouts are crazy places to be at the best of times.  Our local supermarket HEB (The first initials of Howard E. Butt) is always packed with people.  Ducking in for a quick minute is a complete contradiction.

HEBEven knowing that, I still think I can just run in and pick up something quickly.  Yesterday I attempted to run into HEB and grab something light for dinner.  It was 3:45 PM in the afternoon.  How bad could it be?

My husband was with me and we decided on a salad with some fruit and sautéed shrimp tossed on top.  Splitting up to grab the ingredients, we tackled the grocery list. Mathematically it shouldn’t be possible to spend one hour grabbing 16 items, but that is exactly what happened.

One hour later we were making our way to the checkout.  Of course I was guilty of leaving my cell phone in the cart and heading off to pick up some tea.  In my defense, my husband was supposed to wait for me at the cheese counter and he wandered off to enjoy some of the food samples.  We spent a good 15 minutes trying to find each other.  I absolutely refused to have him paged over the intercom!

Finally back together and ready to head to the checkout, we counted our items.  16.  All the express lines were for 15 or less.  Of course!  Yes, my nickname is Girl Scout at work, but I just couldn’t bring myself to get in the 15 item line and I didn’t see anything I was willing to leave behind.  So, we moved to the shortest regular line we could find.

We were standing behind a gentleman who didn’t have a cart; just something in his hands and only one person checking out in front of him.  Things were looking pretty good.  Suddenly this woman darts in with an overflowing basket and pushes in front of us.  The man looks up and smiles and says, “Man, I really hate to do this to you.  This is my wife”.  And she just smiles and says “Yeah, I’m a little slow”.

Shock took over and I couldn’t even respond.  It is amazing how quickly your anger can flair when you are already frazzled.  I left my husband and the cart and went in search of a different line.  I found one with only two carts and it seemed reasonable.  I motioned my husband down to get in line.  The elderly customer at the head of the line, checking out was almost done and the cart in front of us was full but at least not overflowing.

Even though, the lady had been almost finished when got in line, it was taking a while and I joked to my husband, she is probably writing a check.  Sure enough, that is exactly what she was doing. The checkout lady was holding the check up and reading it as if she had never seen one before.  “Unbelievable!” I was thinking, still fuming a little from the first lady who cut in front of us.

Finally finished, the elderly lady gathered her purse and was being helped to her car by one of the young store clerks.  The couple in front of us had their purchases on the counter and the clerk was starting to ring them up.  The lady spoke up and said, “I need to pay for these school supplies separately.”

What?  Now I’m normally pretty patient but I can’t believe what I’m hearing as she starts sorting the items into two stacks.  At least she didn’t pay by check.

When we finally got up to the checkout, it moved pretty fast. We did only have 16 items after all.