The Border Collie Chronicles Observations from (arguably) the World's Smartest Dogs; (but, without question, the bestest friends!) or, Life As We Understand It, as told from dad's shop. |
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Posted March 2, 2017 |
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Be Careful What You Plan … The BC Crew Many years ago … Right here on this place … But before any of
US bupps were around … It was a period of general good
feelings. Spring had come, plants were
coming back to life, as west Texas awakened from its
winter slumber. A young man sits in the shade,
watching the sun begin to set, reflecting on the chores that he
had accomplished on this day. Hardway and Rooney are keeping
him company, even Shooter is close by! He has a supply of silver
bullets, and he isn’t afraid to use them! Then … in the distance, he spies
a young maiden toiling in the fields (well maybe she was just
finishing up the yard work). As he sits there enjoying the
view of the place (and enjoying several cold ones), he gets a little sentimental
about the maiden’s hard work (cold beer does that to him
sometimes!). Much, much later that evening,
as he reposed in his lair, (after several more emotion
inducing beverages) he kept thinking of ways to
reward the young maiden who continued to toil as he
watched the day come to an end. It was a warm night, so the door
to his retreat was still up (he did not yet have wi-fi in
his hideout), so of course, he was able to get
on the internet. That’s when the plan began to
take shape … and that’s where our story
begins … (we couldn’t figure
out how to make this scroll like the original Star Wars crawl[i],
just imagine the music though!!) Well, it was about that time that dad got the
idea to plan an exotic vacation for the two of them … he searched … and
searched … and searched the internet, and scored what sounded to him as
an exciting vacation … Nassau – in the Bahamas! He went ahead and booked the trip (hotel,
flight, ground transportation … the whole ball of wax!).
He passed out … we mean went to sleep … a happy boy that night!
The next day as he woke up, he thought about the previous
evenings (and early mornings) activity and after he got to work, he
thought up some additional questions that didn’t occur to him on the
previous evening. Primarily,
what were the entry requirements to get into the Bahamas … and what did
you have to have to get back into the good ol’ US of A? He went ahead and took the rest of the day off
so he could do a little more research … as it turned out, it was pretty
simple since this story takes place before the 9-11 terror attacks, all
you needed was your birth certificates!
Problem was, he was trying to keep it all a big secret from mom-D
and she was the only one who knew where their birth certificates were!
More research, he discovered that as long as
you were born in Texas, you could get a copy of your birth certificate
at any courthouse in Texas!
He ran down to our courthouse and got his without much problem … but,
his whole life he thought that he had been born in Tarrant County, and
come to find out he was born in Dallas county (Grand Prairie sits in
both counties)! The County Clerk
was a little hesitant to give dad a copy of mom’s birth certificate … he
then explained the reason that he wanted it, and that the trip was a
surprise … we think that he even offered to go back to the house and get
the flight confirmation print outs.
The county clerk finally figured out that dad didn’t have any
malevolent plans for mom, or the need for the birth certificate, and she
relented! Then it dawned on him that he needed to tell
mom something so that she could take some vacation time.
He told her that he had planned a special surprise trip for her
and she needed to take a week off.
Initially, she was excited … she kept pushing dad for details,
but he held his ground and kept telling her it was a secret!
All went well until she started packing … she asked what to pack?
How could he tell her what to pack without telling her where they
were going? Since it was
May, he told her that it might be someplace cold, or might be somewhere
warm … might be casual, might be fancy!
He is soooo smart … until he saw the suitcases!
She had five packed … and that was just HER stuff!
OK – maybe he wasn’t quite that smart!
He went ahead and told her warm and casual.
But he still didn’t tell her where they were going, or how they
were getting there! Everything was going good until he told her
that they weren’t leaving until after work one day and they were going
to stay the first night about 90 miles from home … mom-D got pretty
concerned, curious and even a little nervous at that point and pushed
dad pretty hard about the details.
He knew that the gig would be up as soon as they were checking
bags at the airport since the ticket taker always asks about your final
destination! So he told her
– she says that she was really excited … but was more relieved!!!! You see … she later fessed up that she had left
strict instructions with her friends that if she didn’t come back that
they were to start looking for her and that dad should be “Person of
Interest #1”! Hmmm,
maybe it wasn’t such a “period of good feelings” after all! So, you see, our friends … You have to be
careful when you plan! However, they had a great trip (dad still says
that he is going to retire in the Bahamas one of these days!) and he is
busy making plans for this year’s trip to “the islands” (wherever the
islands might be this year)! Hope everyone has a most WONDERMOUS
day/week/year!!! The BC’s |
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Some Favorite Quotes |
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I get up
every morning determined to both change the world and have one hell of a
good time. Sometimes this makes planning my day difficult. E. B.
White No man
needs a vacation so much as the man who has just had one. Elbert
Hubbard A
military operation involves deception. Even
though you are competent, appear to be incompetent.
Though effective, appear to be
ineffective. Sun-tzu When you
really trust someone, you have to be okay with not understanding some
things. Gordon
Atkinson
(Dale - talking to Hank about Hank and
Peggy's 20th anniversary)
20 years.
If your marriage was a murderer it would be out by now.
Dale Gribble
– King Of The Hill TV Show |
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