Mr. Owl, The 7-Year Search Is Over.

I've heard about the big owl at White Rock for years. While people tried to describe where he was hanging out, I never saw anyone actually looking for him. In fact, those that tried to explain the area of trees where it was thought he lived, either could not or did not want to reveal the actual location. People sometimes show their own insecurity in such matters because they want a certain location as their own. Find a photographer with a 400 or 600 MM lens on their camera and observe! It's more interesting than watching the duck races at Eddie Gossage's little camp ground north of Dallas International this weekend (alright, I like Eddie, so his little camp ground is formally named Texas International Speedway and the office race is the Duck Commander 500).

Any who (pardon the owl pun), it has just been one of those weeks. I had three fires burning, so Monday was the day to work on putting them out. First, came the battle with Time Warner Cable. For weeks they have advertised that on April 7th that they would be going digital and you needed to pick up an adapter. I did that last week-end, standing in line for the better part of two hours. The adapter set on the  floor in front of my TV until the day before. I put on the adapter and called the number given to me by the TWC lady when I picked up the adapter. An activation number. It was then, that I found out that I was loosing channels. No where had the advertisement advertised that the change to digital would do that. The first call on Monday netted a goose egg. Cable 1, me nothing

By Tuesday, I had regained some strength and it was fire number 2 with Aetna insurance. It appears that Aetna, has a very messed up formulary for medications that they pay for under their coverage. The one drug that has worked better in treatment happens to be one that they have decided not to pay for. It was time to take on Aetna. I filed the appeal. My doctor didn't want to put his neck on the line but didn't like the fact that I was probably going to have to change up the med because Aetna didn't want to pay for it. 72-hours of e-mails and wait, e-mails and more info and wait, Bingo! Aetna called to say that they were going to pay for the drug anyway. Second call on Tuesday netted a win for me and the doc. Big Companies 1; me 1.

Wednesday, fire number 3 was a "life-time guarantee" on a 5.5 Qt glass-covered skillet purchased at Sam's Club 6-years ago.  Normally, I would not even fight something like this, but I know that the vendor had problems with this pan in the past and Sam's  Club, though reluctantly, honored the life-time guarantee. Now, as luck would have it, Sam's is letting their vendor duke it out with past customers. At this point in time, the vendor is sending me a pre-paid label to return the pan for inspection. This fire still smolders in the debate world currently.

Thursday, it was a battle with Walgreen's. I had two refills at the pharmacy. I go in to pick up the one refill that was a partial (Walgreen's didn't have enough stock to fill) The Aetna decision had come down and was now in the system so I submitted the refill on line.While at the pharmacy picking up the partial that was now filled and ready, the pharmacist said that I would have to come back tomorrow because the second refill would have to be a partial as well, since Walgreen's was out of stock to fill the second refill completely. (UPDATE:NBC5 10 April 2015)WALGREEN'S ANNOUNCED THAT IT WILL CLOSE 200 STORES BY 2017 (now we know why I have to make 4 trips for 2 scrips, don't we.)

It was time to clear the head and go look for an owl. After searching for 7-years, finally, I found the owl. He had been driven up higher in the canopy by a 600MM photographer, the sky was getting dark with building thunderstorms in the large grove of trees, but, trying to make lemonade out of lemons, I cranked up the 200MM and just started shooting into the canopy, then, I saw the big owl fly into another tree. The shot is terrible, out of focus and nearly to dark, but who cares...... I photographed the big owl that had, until today, evaded me, unlike the many times I have seen the two bald eagles when others had not. For my patience, Mr. Owl rewarded me with a red cardinal on a car mirror and a lesser hawk feeding on grubs.

The First Shopping Trip of 2015--I Should Have Stayed in Bed

Thinking that the "worse" of the Christmas returns was over and that it was safe to venture out to shop now, I packed by hand-written, back-of-an-envelope list of errands into my front shirt pocket and headed out. First stop. Walgreen's. Now, this could be a story within itself and maybe down the line somewhere this year, I might get around to posting in.

My after shave isn't anything special. My grandfather used it. My father used it. It was always found on the back shelf behind each barber's chair in any barbershop, even if the chair in the shop didn't have a barber assigned to it at any given time. The company that makes the stuff  celebrated it's 200th anniversary in 2010. It's got those turn-of-the century phrases on the label that reads with sounds of the old-world like "Essence Imported from France" and "Blended in the USA".

My dad got the stuff for me for years until his supplier finally passed on. I searched the cosmetic supply places and Barber Supply places until I was blue in the face. Then one day, I decided that I would try one last time on line. Bingo! There it was. And, it also listed another old smell that I grew up with known to my age group simply as "body splash".  If you were taking a girl to a show or a dance, you splashed a little here and a little there and slicked the combed hair above the ears back on each side and were out the door.

As luck would have it. Walgreen's were out. The guy said that he would call the neighboring Walgreen's to see if they had stock. They did and were holding it at the front counter for me. I could order it from Drugstore.com but the shipping is not cheap--costing as much as a 6-ounce bottle of the stuff. On line the bottles are 12-ounces but you loose half in shipping so buying a 6-ounce locally generally is the better deal. Once or twice a year the 12-ounce bottles are much cheaper and I order the splash and the after shave. It usually last me most of the year after I receive it at the door. I checked out what I did find on my list, bought a couple of Russell Stover's chocolate-covered cream filled hearts. Yeah, mover over Christmas left overs--Valentine's here! Don't you just love the calendar for retail?

My route had to be re-worked as I try to plan out my stops so that the grocery stop is the last stop before home. In this case the drugstore and the grocery store are a half-block from each other and I'm going much farther to get the after shave. I can stop at my other Kroger's. Didn't think about one thing, however.

The next stop was to have a hot bowl of home-made chili at a local greasy spoon. From there, I had to make a return trip because there was no spoon i n the bag of chili. I got a lecture from Gus.  Gus is like that. You get a lecture if you are not ready to order when he arrives at your table to take your order. "No ready? You wait. I take more orders."  I can  remember years ago a greasy spoon with a name like "Rusty Lantern".  They had their Gus, too! He was Sicilian and more gruff! The food came on a sheet of wax paper--no plates. At lunch time, you could stand in line down the sidewalk for half your lunch hour but the food was out of this world.

The bowl of chili got eaten in my car in the parking lot of an alternate and friendly Kroger's. It was now getting close to peak travel time , I wanted to get the shopping done quickly and get home. That was not to be. Not this day. NOT this Kroger's.  

I know that some of you think I pick on Kroger's lately. From both angles, It has only been about the deli and the size of the fried chicken pieces--which now are pretty much uniform--all much smaller! At least it is uniform. And, in Kroger's defense today, it is a jurisdictional issue of Dallas passing a new law that  other suburban cities have not. Plastic Bags. Dallas has banned. My Kroger is in Richardson and it does not effect me. But, today, because of my 200 plus year old  after shave not being in stock at my Walgreen's, I'm at a Kroger in Dallas. Funny thing, I carry bags in my trunk. So, into the truck I went for the bags and headed for the front sliding doors.


Shopping went swiftly with only one isle traffic jam. Then I headed straight for the self-check outs.
Here's the thing. The self-check-outs now have a software add-on if you want to purchase a plastic bag or use you own and you are in the city of Dallas. If you use your own, then you have to clear the space on the counter where you can sit your items purchased because you can't put your items in your own bags until after you

Dallas Stores has the plastic bag ordinance...not the suburban stores like Richardson, Carrollton, Addison,Garland, Cedar Hill, Duncanville, etc.,etc.

check out. It's a weight issue.. No, it's a plastic bag ordinance issue that has unplanned consequences to the ordinance. Won't be using the self-check outs in Dallas Kroger's from now on. The lines now take three times as long to check out.In short--the new law has slowed down the self-checkout lines.

Meet an Old Friend at the Drug Store!

When I was growing up there was not a Walgreen's in our town. There was a Rexall Drug Store. When we went for serious shopping, we went to a bigger town. They had a Walgreen's Drug Store and it had a lunch counter. The fountain drinks were tasty and the food was a treat even though you might have had some of it at home,too. But back at home, I still remember going to the grocery store to get a six-pack of coke. The six-pack was just that......but, it was six-six ounce green bottles.Here was the best part. They cost five-cents per bottle with a two-cent bottle deposit because the bottles were glass. You could put them in the freezer and when the caps were removed, you only got some brown cola foam because the neck of the bottle was frozen solid. It would take several minutes before the frozen plug thawed enough that you could drink the coke and it was cold and a fun treat all at the same time.

Today, I went to the new Walgreen's near my house. I like having a Walgreen's that close. I like to buy the Russell Stover maple eggs at Easter, Halloween, Christmas and St. Valentine's Day. The new Walgreen's does not have a lunch counter, though. But, I wish that it did. There isn't many Rexall Stores like I remembered around anymore. So, over the years, things have changed from a business stand point. As I left the Walgreen's on my way to the grocery store, as I came around the side of Walgreen's to the curb-cut for the street, there sat my old friend. It just struck me---I was hungry again for a toasted tuna sandwich with lettuce and pickle and a big paper cone in a stainless steel cup holder filled with crushed ice and Coke! Oh, somethings change but I'm sure glad my old friend Coke has stayed the same--pretty much!