Is This "Sick" or What?

Earlier today I went to the HEB in Woodway to buy groceries. On the way home I drove by the Taco Casa in Hewitt. As I drove by I read their sign out front. I had to stop and look at it.

This is what I saw.

"SICK EM PANTHERS"

What does that mean?

Addendum-April 10, 2009

I never thought of posting a link from this March 13, 2009 post to the March 15, 2009 post. (After all, it is 2 days in the future.) The March 15 post contains the probable ANSWER to my post title question. The link is in the word ANSWER since it links to the post The Answer????.

© 2009 Barry T Horst


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Ike Blew All The Leaves Off

Yesterday was an interesting day. Perhaps not interesting; maybe just a tiny bit different.

I woke up yesterday morning expecting to witness the outside edges wrath of Hurricane Ike. You know, the wind and rain thing.

I looked out the window. Just breezy; no rain.

So I sit at the computer and do a few things. I downloaded the AVS Video Editor from "Giveaway of the Day" and then paid some bills. Isn't sad how all of these businesses hound you to visit their stores and get their merchandise. Then when you finally do it, they start bugging you for money.

Since the weather wasn't too bad I decided to go to HEB and buy groceries. Apparently Ike was on the doorstep getting ready to knock. I stepped out and the wind picked up and it was starting to sprinkle. I got in the truck and headed off to the store. By the time I got to HEB the wind was blowing pretty good. It blew my truck door closed before I could jump out. Fortunately, my foot was still safely inside the truck. The rain had picked up but I was destined to shop.

I finished at HEB and decided to head to Sam's. By now we were feeling the full wrath and fury of Ike. Okay, it wasn't really "wrath and fury" it was more like "wind and rain". It never seemed like much rain though. There was a lot of wind though. On the way to Sam's I would sit at red lights and the truck would rock back and forth. That's an awkward feeling when you drive a Chevy Silverado. Anyway, by the time I got to Sam's the rain was coming down pretty hard. I don't know if it was a lot of rain or just rain driven by the strong winds. Yeah, I know. It was both.

By now it was 11:30 AM. Now I'm glad Baylor played on Friday night.

On the way home on IH 35 there was a semi that lost control and had driven up on the concrete center median thingy. His front wheels were hanging over the top. Sort of like a puppy that was standing on it's hind legs by small fence or something of the like. Only this was a "BIG PUPPY". The DPS troopers were furiously trying to get there but had a tough time because all the traffic behind the truck was a dead stop.

It turned out to be lousy weather. But it was a great time to go shopping. No traffic and hardly any customers in the stores. The sample ladies at Sam's were hoping they could go home early since they weren't busy.

I got home and checked the mail. There was a letter from Citi Bank or some such place telling me they had $5000.00 to give me. I shredded the thing. It would be just my luck that once they gave me the money they would turn right around and start wanting it back. I also got catalogue from an outfit called Stafford's in Thomasville, Georgia. I don't know why I got it. I flipped through and found a Leather Flyswatter for $55.00. Now that's what I need because that $1.00 Wal-Mart model just ain't cuttin' it.

Geez, these people must think I have money tree. I've got news for them. Ike blew all the leaves off.

© 2008 Barry T Horst


This work is licensed under a
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Please visit the Giveaway of the Day near the bottom of the left sidebar for free software downloads daily.

Yearning For Some Retro Prices

I got up early this morning because I needed to go grocery shopping at HEB. I left the house around 6:30 AM and spent about 2 hours in the store. When I left I had about $280 less than when I went in and HEB had it. In all fairness I spent about $80 on something totally unrelated to groceries. That was a pair of wireless headphones for the TV.

I have noticed that grocery prices have been following the gasoline prices into the stratosphere lately. There are some shoestring potatoes that Chris likes. They have jumped from $1.59 a few weeks ago to $1.79 this morning. A pound of store brand butter has gone from $1.59 to $2.09. I could go on and on but I am sure you are intimately acquainted with this same experience. So I decide to hunt through the archives. (Really several boxes of junk, errrrrr, important family heirlooms.) I found just what I was looking for, a few old ads and some old menus.

I have scanned one of the ads and placed the scans below. I had to make 2 passes to get the ad since it was on the large side. It is from Dominick's Finer Foods in Chicago. The date is January 6, 1972.

I apologize for the funky way the ad looks. I was unable to get them stitched together. And on some computers the results may get really strange. After all, this was not supposed to be an exercise in computer skills or expertise with Photoshop. The purpose was to reminisce.

But now back to the prices, that was the whole reason for this anyway. Look at those prices. It's interesting how some prices are nearly 10x as high now and other things are only 2x or 3x higher. Don't you wish you could still get bread and eggs for this price? How about those Banquet TV dinners? It's in small print above the coupons but a 25 lb. bag of Dog Chow is $3.04. I'm embarrassed to say how much I have to pay for the same amount of Iam's Dog Food.While looking for the old ads I found a couple of menu's for places here in town. A churches fried Chicken and Schmaltz's Sandwich Shop, a local eatery similar to Schlotzsky's. I'm not sure of the year but both are probably early to mid 1970's. I remember when this particular Church's opened on 17th & Waco Drive in the late 60's and they had big signs up around the building advertising the 1 piece chicken and a roll for 49 cents. Looks like the restaurants today make a killing on their soft drinks compared to the days when these menus were printed. Wouldn't it be nice get things for this price again?

© 2008 Barry T Horst
This work is licensed under a
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Please visit the Giveaway of the Day at the bottom of the page for free software downloads daily.

I Love Chris!

I love Chris! Chris is sort of like me. She has her opinions and it's often hard to change them. We went out to eat some time back at George's. Chris ordered Chicken Fried Steak. Shortly after we got our meal she said there was a problem. She said, "It taste's like meat." I told her it was supposed to; it's Chicken Fried Steak.

Yesterday we went to HEB to get some groceries. She asked me if she could get some more syrup. "Sure!" Chris said the syrup I bought last time was too sweet. I told her, "It's syrup. It's supposed to be sweet."

She also said she didn't like Pork Rinds when they taste like, well, pork rinds. She likes it when they have flavor. We bought a bag of rice cakes that were Cheddar Cheese flavor. She thought they were good. THEN, she saw that sour cream was an ingredient. She doesn't like them now. She does like Beef Stroganoff. Sour cream is an ingredient in it. Go figure!

© 2008 Barry T Horst


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My Day Yesterday, Your Reading Today

I had to take my daughter Julie down to the offices of the Dwyer Group to fill out some papers for her new job yesterday morning. I waited in the reception area as she went to an office in the back. The offices are relatively new and quite nice. I was content to sit on the leather couch and look at magazines. The leather couch was not content with me sitting. As I sat, my body would slowly slide out from under me until I was kind of sprawled in the couch. The leather was very smooth. I would reposition myself and sit up. And then it would begin all over again; slip, slide, sprawl.

After several minutes my phone rang. It's Julie! She wants to know about the W-4 form. I help her over the phone and then hang up. Several minutes after this the phone rings again. It is Julie again. I say, "Hello!" Julie says, "I need my Social Security Card. Mom said it's at home!" I say. "Okay! I'll go get it." I have to drive home get her card and bring it back for her. When I get back I hand it to the receptionist who takes it back to Julie. I go back to the couch. I sit. I slide. I slip. I slunk. I sprawl. I don't get up this time. I just wait for Julie to finish. Some time later Julie emerges and said she is finished. We walk out to the truck and leave.

In the truck Julie said she was hungry. By now it was close to Noon. She wanted to go to Taco Bueno. I told her no, I'm not hungry and besides, I wanted to go to the computer store. After getting her food at Taco Bueno, I drove down the highway to Altex. I was looking at hard drives, wireless speakers, and keyboards. Along the way someone cut in front of me and when I hit the brakes Julie's drink went flying to the floor. I told her later that I hoped the police didn't stop me since I now had Coke on the floor. She had to clean it up. She wasn't happy.

Jace was at the house yesterday when I got home. Jace is still out for Christmas vacation and both parents, Scott & Jessica, had to work. So, Chris and I got to babysit. Actually it wasn't babysitting, it was more like young child sitting. Jace decided to practice cutting with scissors yesterday. He sat at my desk and cut and cut and cut. When he finished he was proud that he cleaned up all the paper that he cut. I was proud that he cleaned up all the paper that he cut. Then he decided to make a mouse trap. It consisted of strips of paper and a lot of tape. I'm not sure how it was going to catch mice but it hung on the side of my desk waiting to snare any unwary mouse that might wander along by my desk. Later we got the magnetic toy out for him to play with. While he played I prepared for a visit to the HEB to buy some groceries. Jace was happy to play at the house.

As I was getting my list and other things together Chris asked me to take Jace. that way he could see his mom, she works at HEB. Before we go Jace had to go to the restroom. This is important to remember for later.

Conversation time:
Jace: "Grandpa I'm tired!"
Grandpa: "Jace you're fine. If you stayed home you would be watching cartoons and jumping up and down acting silly!.
Jace: "But Grandpa, I'm tired."
Grandpa: "That's fine. Just lay your head down and rest."
Jace angrily: "I can't rest!" Then mumbling several times: "I can't rest!"
Grandpa: ""Fine. Don't rest!"

A few moments later all I hear is snoring. He went to sleep. I guess he was tired.

At the store Jace awakens and we get out and get a basket. In the store we want in line to see his mother. Jace announces that he is hungry. Afterwards, we go to the deli and get some potato wedges. After the potato wedges we begin our shopping. Barely out of the produce and Jace decides that he is thirsty. We have to go across the store to the water fountain. Thirst quenched we head back to continue shopping. As soon as we get started Jace announces that he is thirsty again. Nope! We continue shopping. He was a great help while I shopped. he made sure I did not lose the basket or get lost. If I walked more than 5 feet away he started to call me and ask where I was going. He also made sure that the items I put in the basket stayed where I put them. Towards the end of our trip Jace said he needed to go to the restroom. Yep! He did that at home before we left. I took him. Finally we got to check out and went home; after we stopped at the Buddy Bucks machine so Jace could spend his Buddy Bucks.

© 2008 Barry T Horst



This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.