Down By The River!

Today has been great. This afternoon Tony and I met, Hans & Marita, our dear friends from Norway, for lunch at Monroe's East End Grill. To say the least the food was totally delicious and we had so much fun with our friends, as we sat out on the patio.

After lunch, because  we were having so much fun, no one wanted to adios each other yet, so I suggested that Hans & Marita follow us over to the park, so we could feed the ducks and geese and go for a stroll, from one bridge to another bridge and then back to where we had started.

I know that we could have gone to the park much faster by just crossing Water Street and walking down to the trail, but because they wanted to go to J.C. Pennies after our walk, is why I suggested that we go to where Mari and us always meet.

Anyway, on the way to Louise Hayes Park, I quickly filled up two baggies with corn, so Hans & Marita could have a bag to feed the ducks and geese, too.

First off, Marita and Hans were so impressed with the park when we arrived there, they suggested that we meet again, for a fun picnic there. We agreed to that and then the four of us took off.

Because we had not planned on going to the park today, Tony was sick that he had not brought along his camera. So, before our friends and I started hoofing-it, I loaned Tony my iPhone for a few minutes so he could take some pictures. And please note that I would have let him keep my cell phone as he waited for us, but I wanted to use it so it could count my steps.

Here are a few of the pictures he took today:

This is Hans actually shooting his beautiful wife down by the river, as she let my feathered friends eat the corn straight out of the baggie. (And just so you'll know—he was using his iPhone's camera.)

When the ducks and geese in the water saw Marita's All-You-Can-Eat Corn Buffet, they came a swimming and a waddling as fast as they could.

I've titled this photo "So Which One of You Two Called Me Ugly?"

This one I've titled "Don't Look Now. But Guess Who Is Coming To Dinner?" (The answer is King Tut.)

And Tony took this picture of all of these cool turtles sunbathing, on the sides of these beautiful, huge Cypress trees.

I had a wonderful time strolling through the park with Marita & Hans and the further we walked the more impressed our Norwegian friends were about this awesome, beautiful park.

In the parking lot, under the Sidney Baker Bridge, before adios-ing our dear, foreign friends, Marita & Hans and I pulled out our pedometers and checked how many steps we had taken on our bridge-to-bridge and back walk.

 And they were totally thrilled with their results and when they showed me their phone's pedometers to compare it to mine—we had walked the exact same distance. 

FYI: On my Apple-Health app the smaller spike is when Tony and I went shopping at the big H-E-B, before meeting up with our friends at Monroe's East End Grill.

And because Hans & Marita were so excited about discovering this great park they told us that they could not wait to meet us at the park, again. 

And that is about it for tonight, because I am tired and all I want to do is get into my pajamas, relax, drink one glass of my cheap, fine-boxed-wine and binge-watch the final episodes of Parks and Recreation. Because in a sense I've been there and done that. If you get my drift?

Y'all have a great evening and keep on laughing!

One Of My Heroes!

Like most of us, I have my heroes and I can count them on one hand: Dad, my sweet sister Cindy, my awesome brother Ronnie and Tony and now I've added one more.

Last night after posting on my blog, I called Ronnie to tell him about how much I was enjoying binge-watching Parks and Recreation, so I could recommend that he and Nita watch that show, on Netflix. Because he and I are always recommending shows to watch. And it is probably very common with senior citizens, because many of my friends do it, too.

Anyway, during our fun conversation, Ronnie paused, and then he told me that he wanted to tell me about what had happened to him earlier that morning. And the way he said it—scared me. So, I held my breath and listened.

And in Reader's Digest form I will put it on a bumper-sticker for you. So here goes.

Early in the morning, on a Texas highway, in Austin, Ronnie was driving his Toyota Tundra pickup about 70 miles per hour when one of his almost new tires  had a blowout. So Ronnie quickly pulled off to the side of the highway. And vehicles were flying past him as he tried to fix his flat.

His truck was on an incline and even with the emergency brake on, the truck kept slipping off of the jack. Then the jack broke, so he got back into his truck and called Nita to see if she could bring him another car jack.

Sweet Nita did not know where the jack was, so Ronnie told her where to find it. Then he sat back, knowing that it would take Nita at least forty-minutes for her to get there. But Nita never came.

Nita never showed up, because within a few minutes Ronnie looked into his rear view mirror and saw this truck with these flashing blue and white lights pull up behind him. Ronnie figured it was the highway patrol, but it wasn't. It was a Texas Department of Transportation Hero! Thank goodness. This is a picture of a HERO truck that I took from this site.

I did not know this and neither did Ronnie, that TxDOT operates a free roadside assistance program for stranded motorists along US 183, I-35, US 290, SH 71 and MoPac.

TxDOT in partnership with the Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization, operates a free Highway Emergency Response Operator (HERO) patrol service program to clear minor crashes from area roadways and assist motorists in need. And HERO services include:

• Relocating disabled vehicles to safety
• Removing minor crashes from the roadway
• Providing traffic and lane control at crash scenes
• Removing debris from travel lanes
• Changing flat tires
• Giving air to low tires
• Adding gasoline and water
• Performing minor vehicle repairs
• Jump-starting batteries
• Assisting first responders at crash scenes
• Providing drinking water and cell phone services to stranded motorists

Now back to the story. Ronnie told me that this super-nice man got out of his truck and Ronnie told him that Nita was bringing him a jack, because his jack had broken. This awesome HERO told Ronnie that we would gladly change the flat for him and he suggested that Ronnie call Nita to tell her to forget bringing him a jack.

Ronnie said that the HERO then put these little cones around their trucks and within a few minutes the HERO had changed Ronnie's flat for him. 

Ronnie thanked him over and over again and then he offered to pay the HERO for helping him, but this great man politely refused the money, telling Ronnie, "Thank you, but I can't take your money. It's my job and this is what I do." He and Ronnie shook hands and then both of them drove away.

As Ronnie continued to rave about how great this HERO was, I teared up, because I knew that Ronnie could have been hit by a passing vehicle or even killed. But Ronnie didn't know I was tearing up, because I was looking up toward the ceiling to keep the tears away.

Then Ronnie told me that as soon as he got back home, he was so impressed with this HERO that he went to the TxDot HERO site and took the survey to tell TxDOT what had happened to him and to please thank the HERO for him. 

And just before Ronnie and I adios-ed each other, Ronnie said, "Thank goodness that HERO came to my rescue, because Nita could not find the jack. And when I got back home it was exactly where I had told her I had put it." And we burst out laughing.

As I finish writing this I want to thank the HERO for helping Ronnie on the highway, and to let him know that he is now one of my heroes, because he rescued one of my heroes. And that is why today has been so great.

Y'all have a great evening and keep on laughing!