Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
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Do you remember your first summer job? I do. It was just after I graduated from high school. All my pals had jobs. I figured I ought to get one too, that way I'd have some spending money. I landed a position as "houseman" at the big hotel downtown in the ol' hometown. The houseman worked in the hotel's housekeeping department. In the old days legions of maids marched from the housekeeping department every morning to clean the rooms, put fresh linens on the beds and fresh towels in the bathrooms. It was the houseman's job to...
The Lady of the House and I have one of those store-bought, above ground pools in the backyard. We set it up a few weeks ago. The Lady of the House reasoned if we set it up while the days were mild the probability was low that we'd get into one of those terse "discussions" that tend to happen whilst doing chores in the hot, hot sun. While we were outside a car pulled over. Inside were a man and a woman. "Is that the same pool y'all had last year?" asked the man. "My wife says it is and I say it isn't." "Funny you should...
Charles Guthals passed away a few weeks ago. I'm going to miss him. Lots of High Plains folks knew him far better than I did. To me, he was the guy who knew everything about plants and trees and stuff around here. Back in March The Lady of the House and I were in his store. The Lady of the House was looking for lawn and garden stuff and I was swapping stories with Mr. Guthals. It was one of those days when a howling wind was roaring outside. The wind was picking up dust and grit and prairie dogs and small pets and sending the...
Mother's Day is tomorrow. I'll catch up with mom and see how she's doing. I'll tell her she's "The Greatest Mom Ever" and how much I love her. I wish I knew more about my mom. What I mean is I know a lot about my mother, but the time before her high school years is a mystery to me. I do know my mom could roller-skate and this is how I found out. Once upon a time, long ago and far away, I was running around the house and getting into mischief. I was about 8 years old and didn't have to go to school, so it was probably a Saturd...
Going through my record collection the other day I ran across a 1982 album by Willie Nelson and the late, great Waylon Jennings titled "WWII." The first track on the LP is titled "Mr. Shuck and Jive." "Well, I can't say that anymore," I thought to myself. It turns out I'm not allowed to say "shuck and jive" because I'm from one ethnic/racial background and the phrase apparently originated with another. So if I say "shuck and jive" I am being politically incorrect. This came up within the past few months because some... Full story
Vacation was over. There was one more thing to do. We were in search of the best chicken pot pie ever. And it was sold in the deli of a supermarket somewhere in L.A. (Lower Alabama). The Lady of the House and I had discovered it on our last trip when we stopped at a supermarket for some road food. We sat in our car on that cool fall day and dug into our eats. "Mmmm," I said. "This is the best chicken pot pie I've EVER had." The chicken had a freshly roasted flavor to it, the gravy was smooth and tasty, the vegetables weren't... Full story
The Lady of the House and I had a difference of opinion as to what one does while on vacation. We recently took a few days off and visited the Gulf Coast. I had visions of lying around doing nothing, maybe flipping through the pages of a good book. The Lady of the House had a list of things she wanted to do and places she wanted to see. "A vacation is for relaxing, reading a book, doing nothing," I said as my hoped-for-idle days began. "You can do that at home," she said. "You CAN'T do that at home because there's always... Full story
A vacation in Florida a couple of weeks ago gave The Lady of the House and I the opportunity to catch up on watching movies. Being out-of-towners we rented our DVDs from the red vending machine called "Red Box" inside the Southern Supermarket. We have a few of these contraptions sprinkled around here on the High Plains. The super-duper automated machine displays what DVDs are for rent, you make a choice, slide your credit card through the credit card reader thingy and your DVD pops out. Returning the DVD became a minor advent...
"Have you ever seen a live Cornish Game Hen?" asked The Lady of the House. We were at a local eatery where Cornish game hen was the special of the day. "I've just seen them frozen in the grocery store," I said. "Wrapped in white plastic," said The Lady of the House. "Now there was this time I was taking a tour of a house that was for sale," I said. "This man and his wife were showing me the garage and there was this big cage full of birds. They were little round things going, 'Peep peep peep' and I asked if they were Cornish... Full story
When you're talking with folks do you ever wonder where their accent is from? I do. I've recently realized I'm getting rusty at it and may have to give it up. Like that time The Lady of the House and I were up on the north side of town at a garage sale and I thought the woman conducting the sale had an interesting accent. "I couldn't help but notice your accent," I said. "Are you from Ireland?" "No," she said. "Guess again." "Ahh, Sweden?" "You're getting closer," she said. I was at a loss. "You're from Germany," said The... Full story
Coming to work the other day, I noticed the bright dawn reflecting on the office windows and remembered a story my dad told me about "The House with the Golden Windows." As a young guy I was forever ramblin' around in the family car. One weekend he and my mom went away and when they came back he wondered aloud, very aloud, how I managed to put 532 miles on the family car while they were gone. "Let me tell you a story," he said. "There was a boy who grew up in the mountains in a simple cabin," said my father. "He may have... Full story
"C ould we be on our way to being 'crazy cat people'?" asked The Lady of the House the other day. We just added another rescue kitten to the family. He was bounding around the house, knocking things down. The other tomcats didn't care. The lone female cat was not amused. She was walking around growling. "Well, I know 32 cats DEFINITELY makes one a crazy cat person," I said. Years ago my mom had me drive her around town for errands, one stop was to visit a friend. "Now don't say anything about how her house smells," said my...
Some truckers would call it a "disco party," what some of us saw last Saturday on one of the town's main drags: An 18-wheeler stopped, surrounded by cop cars, lights a-flashin.' It reminded me of my own "disco party" back when I drove a big rig. I was hauling to Palm Springs, Calif. I made a wrong turn and ended up in Rancho Mirage. I spotted a vacant lot and headed for it to turn my rig around. There's a big difference between a High Plains lot with its caliche versus one in the Mojave Desert. Within moments I was axle-deep...
What if today's motels were set up so that everyone on the same floor shared one bathroom? And there were no showers, everyone shared a bathtub. What would you do? That's a chin-scratcher, ain't it? I got to thinking about this the other day when The Lady of the House and I were looking at places to go for a weekend getaway. "Here's a place up in the Texas Panhan-dle," said The Lady of the House. "It's a little bed and breakfast. And oh, how quaint, everyone shares a bathtub. I wonder if they run in and clean it between...
What if today's motels were set up so that everyone on the same floor shared one bathroom? And there were no showers, everyone shared a bathtub. What would you do? That's a chin-scratcher, ain't it? I got to thinking about this the other day when The Lady of the House and I were looking at places to go for a weekend getaway. "Here's a place up in the Texas Panhan-dle," said The Lady of the House. "It's a little bed and breakfast. And oh, how quaint, everyone shares a bathtub. I wonder if they run in and clean it between...
