Home Depot Roadie Trip

 

Assembly work prepping for spring has slowed down a bit.  With nuthin' to do, the bossman suggested that I go help out in Oxford.  Then he suggested a stop in Tupelo.  Winner, winner, chicken dinner!  Decided to head to Tupelo first, and requested 2 nights at the Hampton, in Oxford.

Bossman gave me the details:  20 cents per mile round trip, $15 a day per diem, and Company prepaid hotel room, at a place of their choosing.  Can you say "Super 8 Motel", OMG, thoughts of critter bugs, nasty room run thru my head.  And, could not wait to spend that $15 per diem! Lol!

Three hours later, I'm at my first stop.  My contact already had work ready for me.  27 riding lawn mowers.  Holy mother of grass cutting!  We get $15 to take these things off the crate, unwrap them, hook up the battery, and attach the seat and steering wheel.  Worst part is getting them off the pallets, since there is very little gas in them.  I get 6 done, then the HD guy starts lifting them off the pallets with his fork lift!  I'm loving this guy!  First time ever!  Time and back saver!  Since I got a late start, it took the rest of the day to finish the riders and then 5 other items needing assembly.  Bossman called to check on my progress, then shut me down so the regular guy would have some work the next day.  Dang it!

Got all my paperwork done, then headed off to the City of Oxford and that fabulous Super 8 hotel room!  Arrived at my destination, and time for check-in.  Clerk right off the bat apologized for being new.  Oh boy, there's your sign....  I asked her to put my Wyndham Reward number on the room, for da points.  She said, oh crap, this room was booked thu Expedia.com, and they haven't taught me how to do that yet.  Oh boy....  She prints out a my room assignment, and I then discover that its a smoking room.  After finding a "non-smoking" room in the system, she had to call her supervisor because of that dang Expedia reservation!  After 40 minutes, finally a room!

I find my quarters, inserted the key, opened the door, and bam! the smoke knocks me back on the balcony!  Went in, used the can, then back to the lobby for a key swap.  Second room, same thing, at least I grabbed the shampoo for my troubles.  Third room was the charm, but no shampoo!  Glad I clipped it from room number 2!  The channel buttons on the tv remote didn't work, had to punch in each channel number from the channel guide.  After my shower, I discover that I had to dry off using the "towelettes" that they had hanging.  I felt like a strip tease act, with my wide ass and those little towels!

Next day, I did my thang at the Oxford Home Depot.   I assembled all but 10 grills, leaving them for the regular guy,  Finishing around 4, then went to get the paperwork done.  Turns out the only feller that could key my crap into the system left for the day just as I got to the receiving department!  Glad I had another night's stay at the Super 8!

The Super 8 parking lot was full, mostly with a variety of service trucks.  Everybody that pulled up tool their tool bags into their rooms for safekeeping.  One feller on the first floor had propped his door open with his work boots.  He was stationed in one of the chairs, just outside the door.  There were three empty Old Milwaukee Light cans on the ground, and one in his hand.  As I walked up the stairs he let out the biggest burp!  Guessing that was his breakfast, lunch and dinner!

Got my paperwork done the next morning.  I'm done.  Ok, since I'm here, I gotta try out something new.  Big Bad Breakfast one out.  Its on North Lamar in a strip center on the left.  Its amazing that there are establishments that make a living just on breakfast!

The special of the day was a smoked snapper cake topped with eggs benedict.  OMG was it good!

 

 

 

The cooks in the back were all black.  You know that they were adding some soul to all at food on the flat top!

You know that the food has to be good when the syrup dispenser is stuck to the counter!


The feller next to me, ordered the "big bad breakfast" that comes served in a small cast iron skillet.  I think it had everything, including the kitchen sink in it!  He only ate a third, the rest went "to go"!  That bad boy is definitely on my must try list!

I'm making my way home on Hwy 6 and I notice that a brand new Dolla Gentral is going in on the left.  This will be a tailgating delight for those that fergot some of their supplies!  The rest of the ride was uneventful.

I walk into the house, and I'm attacked by the love of two dachshunds.  I  sat down for a quick nap, covered in weiner dog. woke up, felt the top of my head for my for my glasses. Nope. Searched the couch, oh Shit! I looked at Otis (he has done this before), and very "nicely" asked him where was my !@@##$$ glasses! He took off behind the couch! Guilty as charged! Runaway weiner! Oscar just looked up at me with that look "wasn't me, remember, I was in your lap the whole time"! Searched the bathroom, bedroom, living room and all parts in between. Otis still behind the couch, yep, GUILTY! Call to the spousal unit for suggested hiding places. Re-traced steps. Called the optical buddy and placed an order for replacements. Stripped the bed, no luck. got down on the floor to look under the bed. Suddenly something slips off my nose. GLASSES!!!!! 30 minutes Otis comes out from under cover.   Cancelled the replacements.  back to loving on My Bestie Boys!

Ready for the next roadie trip!

First Born

It started with a homemade pizza.  Thick crust, lots of cheese, and every known meat item I could find.  Then, she felt a pain, the another, then, "I've gotta take a walk!"  Onset of labor, around 8 p.m.  Pizza got finished, don't recall ever taking a bite.  It was the last homemade pizza I've made, 28 years ago.

Twelve hours later, at 8:34 a.m., I became Daddy Bill!  Baby boy, Matthew Lamar Weems, 6lbs, 12 oz, and 20 1/4 pounds of pure joy.  Got the Baby Momma and cub home to the waiting rocking chair!  Baby Momma had herself a cry.  I was hoping it was one of those good kinda cries. It was!

Baby Momma had to have a C-section, so I got the first two weeks of Baby Daddy duty.  Learned real quick to put a diaper over the fire hose.  Never will forget the smell of those first dirty diapers, good God!  That diaper genie was the best gift ever!

Maw-in-law showed up to help.  First night home from work, she had five pots going on our four burner stove.  I thought "oh Lord, help me!"  Matthew did not like his bath at all.  He'd scream bloody murder til he was covered in his hoodie towel.  First words out of Maw-in-law's mouth were "you're scrubbing that baby's head too hard!" (cradle cap prevention).  Next night it was her turn.  Yep! My turn!  Hey!  "you're scrubbing that baby's head too hard!"  We both got a good laugh outta that!

Learning to ride a bicycle was easy.  Bike, Matthew and me, in the street.  One push, and off he went!  I thought, damn1 That was easy.  Then I hear, "Dad! How do I stop???!!!"  In the ditch he went.  Got back up and at it again!

I had the pleasure of learning about coaching with this one.  First soccer game, he would not go on the field.  We both stood out there together, life two oak trees with deep roots.  To get the feet moving for the next game, I offer him $5 for each goal he scored.  Four goals the very next game.  Four more over the next three.  Worth every penny!

Baseball became more challenging.  T-ball was the best ever!  Then coach pitch, Buddy Ball.  As the coach, you or one of the assistants get to pitch to your team.  The player gets up to five pitches to hit the ball, then you are out of strikes.  I gave up game day pitching real quick, off to the batting cage I went!  The father-son relationship struggle begins early.  While in the field of play, Matthew was not interested in defense on this day.  I finally looked at him and said "fine, head to the dugout!"  I look up, and four other players followed him right in! 

We have now moved up to a bigger bike.  "Dad.  Build me a ramp for jumping."  I ask how high.  You sure?  Ok, ramp built.  First run, he got plenty of speed.  Matthew hits the ramp, and up in the air he went!  Problem was landing.  Bam!  Both tires hit the pavement, for a perfect landing.  Matthew's landing, not so perfect.  Upon landing, the seat went right through his private area, and over int the grass he went!  Somebody forgot to use his knees as shock absorbers!  That boy was singing soprano for weeks!

Middle school had its challenges.  Matthew had a reading assignment, but couldn't seem to find the time to make it to the library to get a book.  He was real good at blaming the teacher.  My patience had run thin.  I called a dear friend of mine that was the librarian, to see if she could assist Matthew in picking out a book for this assignment.  Matthew gets home that afternoon, "Dad, I'm gonna kill you!"  He got pulled out of home room class by the librarian, and had his book!  No more problems with trips to the library after that!

High School Band.  Oh what fun!  I volunteered to be treasurer and also take care of concessions.  After the first game, I told Matthew how good they sounded! (What do I know???)  Matthew said "It sucked!"  I ask why?  Turns out Matthew didn't get to play his saxophone the first two games.  He would play what he wanted to play, so the Band Director had the drum Major pull his reed.  Result:  no sound!  I called in a favor with the assistant band director, with assurances that all his future notes would be sweet!

Matthew made it through high school, then two years of "see you at Hinds" then he did a three year tour of USM.  Graduation day was a wonderful thing!  We always told him to chase his dream, but he had to have a college degree.  After a sputter, He and his band mates made it to Nashville, with dream in hand!

Nashville lasted a year.  Dream has been chased, but he's got his college degree.  Rut row, guess who just moved back home???  He can now say, "hey Hinds!  I'm back!"  He is now focused in a different direction, and has a wonderful girlfriend to keep him on track.

Today is Matthew's 28th birthday, and my 28th year of being a Dad.  Thanks for the ride son!  The memories we've created are forever etched in my brain.  There are more to come because this ride is no where near over!

Love,

DAD

First date was the high school dance.  The spousal unit and I got to chauffer the lovely couple.  I was very careful with this cargo, driving below the speed limit, with the emergency flashers on!  Needless to say, that was my last job as his chauffer!