Thursday, April 22, 2004

The Spring Without Sun

(22) The Spring Without Sun continues into its third week. Every single day, the skies have been gray and dreary, broken only by occasional showers, and by 4 or 5 pm, the sun comes out long enough to set. During the night, the clouds come back for another round.


It wouldn't be so bad if we could get a day of sunshine once in a while. The forecast doesn't look too promising either. Maybe by the 29th we could have a day of sunshine. But the first back to back days of sunshine are in May.


Other than that, things are going well. Dad and I have been working in the garden, and we should have a pretty good crop of peppers this year. I think Dad's looking forward to a huge crop of okra. He said he's not sharing any of it this year.

Thursday, April 08, 2004

Cyclists are assholes

(8) I got my kilt and I wore it to work today. Very comfortable.


But I have something else to say.


I would take up cycling, but apparently you have to be an asshole.


The last few weekends, cyclists have descended on Fredericksburg, and they all wanted guest houses. Today, five of them tried to check in before 2 pm. From their reactions, you would think they had never heard of a check-in time. All of them said, "But we have a 1 pm ride scheduled!" We explained that Easter, combined with wildflower time, is a busy time, and the homeowners hadn't had the time to clean after their previous guests. They sniffed in disgust and stormed out to start their bike rides. Another group arrived yesterday. Granted, they have stayed with us for the last several years, but this year, they negotiated a special rate with the homeowner for one night, and told us there would be 8 people for three nights. When they came in to pay, they told us that, no, there were four people tonight, six tomorrow and eight the next day. This required several minutes of recalculation. An hour later, the representative of the group arrived to ask us if they could check out at 1 pm or 2 pm (2-3 hours later than regular check out time). I referred them to the homeowner, and said that if she didn't mind, we didn't. Not an appropriate answer, I guess, since she sniffed and left the office.


I theorize that extensive cycling drives the spine into the part of the brain that controls polite behavior.


I explained my theory to the office. Then we had a guy who was staying at a country home who wanted us to deliver the key. He said he didn't want to come into town. I wanted to ask where the Hell he was going to eat, since there isn't a kitchen at the house, but I refrained. When he got to the office to pick up the key, he complained that since he was coming in from "that side of town" we should have delivered the key. We tried to explain that the homeowner asked us to distribute the keys, but he said that he would speak to the homeowner, because he didn't want to be bothered by it. I wanted to ask him if he brought his bicycle.


I suggested a $50 rural key delivery fee, and a $50 rural key retrieval fee, a $50 early check in fee, and a $50 late check-out fee, payable in cash, no receipt, to the others in the office. Someone said they would do it for $20, but they were roundly poo poo'ed.


The boss was in the office today and noticed that we had a larger than usual supply of assholes. But she wouldn't go so far as to authorize my fee idea.


So, if I ever tell you that I want to start cycling, remind me that they are all assholes.

Monday, April 05, 2004

Maybe today?

I didn't get my kilt on Friday. I should have known better. Our packages always go through San Antonio before arriving here. The information on the UPS web site changed, and my kilt spent sixteen (!) hours hanging out in Austin before leaving for San Antonio. It traveled an hour and 16 minutes and arrived at 10:50 pm.


So the question for today is: will the kilt arrive on time, as UPS hopes?


All our packages go from San Antonio to Kerrville, where they are distributed for delivery. Keep your fingers crossed.


Gary came down on Saturday and we played a perfectly dismal round of golf. The sky was gray and overcast, and a chilling breeze was blowing. I decided to wear jeans. We'd just teed off when the sun came out and the temperature soared! I was miserable. I should have just worn my shorts. I won't bore you with the scores, or embarrass myself for that matter. We did have a great time, though.

Friday, April 02, 2004

Maybe today?

My kilt continues is journey across the US. It spent 24 hours making its way from Commerce City , Colorado to Dallas, arriving there at 11:17 pm. It left Dallas for Austin at 1:16 am this morning. It arrived in Austin at 5:15 am (just an hour a 25 minutes ago as I write this.) Then twenty minutes ago it left Austin.


I might get my kilt today!


I'm celebrating by replacing the image on the front page. What do you think of me and my kilt?