Primordial Nothing’s blog

 Today, we roughed out a design for a new house to have built on our Texas place. 

First off, about our place:  Seven years ago, my uncle died.  A year later, his son asked us if we wanted to buy the place.  We said yes. It's eleven acres with an old two bedroom farmhouse. The house is listing to starboard and I've literally propped up the ceiling with fence posts.
It needs replacing.

We modified a house plan from a big builder near Dallas.  This has precipitated a flurry of activity that I'd not planned on for this short trip home.

I have to remember to breath.

I tend to forget how big the F-4 really is.  This picture from my Training at Luke AFB reminds me.

F-4Class

My Squadron mates from Torrejon Air Base, Spain are going to have a reunion next Spring.  I'm Excited.

Yesterday, Wednesday, we thought we’d have some time to relax, and take care of some chores around our place.

We’d decided to replace the very old Montgomery Ward’s Tappan  gas range with  something a little more modern and we needed to change the oil in the QE2. That meant a trip to Minneola where there is a funky little coffee shop with free internet.  We could get caught up with email and blogging.  I drove the pickup, while C drove the QE2, so we could drop off the Infinity while we ran errands.

When we picked up the Infinity, the mechanic told us that the front wheel drive pinion seal was leaking badly. He didn’t have the tools to check the  oil level in it, but it could be empty.  There is a Nissan dealership in Tyler, about 30 miles away, so we decided to forego the café, and get the seal fixed.  When we got to the Nissan place, we found out that they couldn’t do warranty work on Infinity vehicles.  What a crock!! 

Our choice was  Dallas or Shreveport.  ONE HUNDRED MILES in either direction! We picked Shreveport.  It was 10:30 when we left Tyler.  We left it with the Shreveport dealership until they can get the parts and drove home.  Exhausted., we got home around 3:30 PM.

We’ve been so  busy and we don’t have internet connectivity in our house, so I’m several posts behind.

Last Sunday morning we checked out of one of the Best Westerns in  Wichita for our final push to East Texas. Their “free” breakfast lounge was full of teenagers, so we skipped that.  Loaded up dog, bird, and luggage and checked out.  Then went in search of gas and breakfast.  Found a gas station and across the street from it was a Sonic Drive-In. We decided to try them for breakfast. I ordered a breakfast burrito, ‘Tater-tots, and a coffee.  The coffee was a surprise. It’s almost as good as my favorite Starbucks Komodo Dragon.  C agreed. We’ve sampled Sonics coffee in a few other places and it’s quality is consistent.  So the “Gourmet Coffee” problem is solved. 

Half way between Wichita and Oklahoma City, our son called us. 

He’d visited his grandparents over the weekend and wanted to let us know that they’d both hurt themselves Saturday afternoon.  My dad had just taken possession  of two yearling bulls and had them in the corral behind their house.  Dad was in the corral with them when one bull came towards him. He rapped it on the nose with his cane (hereafter called walking stick.) When he turned around to get out of the corral he fell. His left arm took most of the shock and probably has a hairline fracture.  When Mother saw Dad go down, she moved to go to him, stepped in a hole and went down herself, spraining an ankle.  They refused to go to the emergency room and rigged up a splint for Dad’s arm. My brother got into an argument with them, but they wouldn’t budge. 

After calming ourselves down, I called them.  They weren’t going to tell me what happened, so I had to  pry the story out of them.

C and I took them to their primary doctor the next Tuesday, and they’re in no danger. 

We crossed the Missouri River into Iowa from South Dakota and it was like someone flipped a switch.  The prairie turned into lush green woodlands.  The prairie was pretty, but the green forests were a relief to the eyes.

We made it to Kansas in our longest day of driving, yet.  Stopped in Lawrence for old time sake. Our son was a Jayhawk. One last hard push to get to Wichita for the night. We're tired, but we'll be to our Texas home early tomorrow afternoon.

We're now deep in Dakota-Sioux country. 

A pretty waitress served us in a casino/gas station/restuarant. It was the only place to eat between Fargo and Watertown.  The food was good, and cheap.

We didn't make Sioux Falls. It would have been another hours drive, so we're staying in Watertown. 

It was nicer than I was expecting. A decent restuarant, mezinine pool, and they were having a wedding reception when we arrived.

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As we approached Bismarck, I said I'd like a nice deli sandwich. C said she'd like one, too.
We drove around downtown Bismarck, it was nice. Then, drove to the state capitol. Parked in the shade, so the car wouldn't get too hot, then got out to take some pictures. We decided to go inside. C asked at the information desk if there was an observatory level. Before the attendant could answer, a lady, obviously a worker there, said take the elevator to the 18th floor. She was so eager to help, C asked if there was a deli nearby. The lady urged us to try the cafeteria, right there in the capitol building.
After a tour of the observation deck, we went back down to the cafeteria. I got a chicken and pickle salad sandwich, deviled egg, and a frosted molasses cookie. C had a traditional chicken sandwich, a bowl of cream of broccoli soup and a deviled egg. $11.80 for a tasty lunch for two.
A quick drive out to the airport, then back to I-94 to drive to Fargo before turning South
Maybe we,ll make Sioux Falls tonight.
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