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These yellow
mums line the deck of the main house, which means they are what I see when I look
out the window from my desk. And as I said in a recent post, yellow flowers
cheer me. You can see why when John, the lawn guy, was ready to replace them
with pansies, I said “No, not yet. I haven’t enjoyed the mums long enough.” The
truth is that the mums were full and healthy and very green with only tiny dots
of yellow for a long time. I worried, although a friend told me I didn’t want
them to bloom early. So I waited. In the last couple of weeks, they have come
into their own, and I’m going to keep them
until a frost kills them. Then it will be time to talk about pansies.
Kind
of a mixed bag today. Jordan, Christian, and I got our booster shots, but it
turned out to be a long, involved process. One night recently, they met a pharmacist
who said she’d give us the shots—she is manager at a WalMart pharmacy on
Sycamore School Road, which is, ahem, not close to us. As we wound through the
South Side on McCart, which is endless, I kept to myself the thought that we
could have gone to the local Albertson’s just as easily. Turned out I would be
glad we made the trip. Besides, it was fun for me to be out in the car. I said
if anyone asked me what I did today, I’d say I took a trip in the country.
We
finally came to a WalMart on McCart, just beyond Sycamore School Road. Went in,
waited in line for a while—only to find out that we were at the wrong WalMart. Back
to the car, more driving, with Christian giving directions which at one point
took us in the wrong direction. By now, we really were in stretches of open land.
Finally, the right WalMart, one of the small Neighborhood Stores, clean and not
crowded.
It may have been a smaller store, but it was a darn long walk to the pharmacy, and with am N95 mask on, I lose my breath more easily. In retrospect, even though I never fear needles, I think I also had a little pre-shot anxiety. Anyway, poor Christian had to push me part of the way. (I did much better walking out.) Then we filled out endless paperwork and finally got into the immunization room—it had never occurred to me the would have a private room for giving shots—and Erica, Jordan’s newfound friend, gave us our shots. From now on, I want Erica to give me any shot I have. I barely knew she had done it. And, knock on wood, no sore arm tonight, although Jordan says hers is a bit sore.
This
second pharmacy was close to the Chisholm Trail Parkway, so we zipped right on
home—after a two-hour adventure. Just to keep things interesting, Jordan
thought she had lost her wallet, but it turned out to be at home.
Tonight,
the place where I bought our new tree, to replace the hundred-year-old elm we
lost, was to install our Chinese Pistache. I had long discussions with them,
explained this was the only night Christian could be home to discuss where they
could plant it etc. We had the utility check done. And they’re a no-show. We’re
frustrated. And guess who gets a firm phone call from me tomorrow.
I
guess the Gary Patterson fiasco is still on people’s minds, though not as much
as I’d expected. A sportswriter for the Star-Telegram, Mac Engel, had a
couple of opinion pieces in the paper this morning that did not put TCU in a
favorable light and then a piece saying AD Jeremiah Donati has the
make-or-break career decision of hiring a new coach. I thought he’d already
dimmed his career by forcing Patterson to resign. One Facebook commenter pointed out that Patterson always recognized that his players were
students first and foremost, which I think is important.
But
something nobody has mentioned in discussing the three-year losing streak: for
two of those years, we were in pandemic (still are though for now numbers are
looking better). Has any considered that, since we lost so many people from the
work force, pandemic might also have narrowed the field of eligible recruits?
Some due to illness, some due to family worry, some reluctant to start college
life on a campus that was almost all remote classes? All of us were affected
one way or another, so why not college football players? Not making excuses for Patterson, who surely needs none from me, but that's my thought for the day.
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