The Weekend

Saturday morning Toby and I headed off to The City on a little shopping excursion. Toby had decided that I needed a new set of golf clubs. My old golf clubs are probably older than I am. My Dad had picked them up at a garage sale years ago so that I could learn to play golf and keep up with Toby. Dad was like that – always finding some sort of useful junk at garage sales to send home with us – Toby could never say "no" to him, and we have collected some interesting junk. But the golf clubs served their purpose. At one point, Toby sanded down the woods in order to repaint them. He never got around to repainting them, and in their sanded down state, they were extra ugly. He placed in the money at a little golf tournament in Angel Fire one year and bought me a pink bag, but even that has seen better days. Now and again, Toby gets into his golf. I encourage the golf, because I figure it is safer and cheaper than a motorcycle. Does that mean he has given up on the motorcycle? Nope, but it does get pushed further down the line for a little longer.

I love our little trips together. It gives us a chance to visit and talk without The Girl along. Most people think that Toby is a very quiet person, and he is, but he also has a sharp sense of humor making me laugh at his silly wit. We stopped in Chickasha to get some more caffeine and yes, check out the motorcycle shop. At the convenience store, I could not decide what I wanted, but I needed something. Toby looked at some high-energy drink, but I wasn’t so sure he needed that much caffeine, besides, it cost over $2.00 for a little bottle of the stuff. We finally opted for coffee. As we continued on our trip and I took several drinks of my coffee, I said, "I don’t think coffee was what I needed either." Toby replied, "If you had let me get the snake juice with venom in it, we would be kicking butt right now. It made me laugh.

We stopped by the motorcycle store and looked at the used cycles not really finding "just the right one". He did like this little yellow Suzuki, but I know nothing about bikes. I told Toby that if he would take me back to Italy, we could buy an Italian bike and cruise around Italy rather than renting a car. Then we could ship it home. Sounds fun to me – anything to get back to Italy – he just shook his head. Later, we got up on the turnpike toward The City, set the speed at close to 80 mph – because we can – and passed a couple of motorcycles. Toby ogled them as we passed. They were fancy new BMWs. One of them had compartments on the rear-sides. I said, "Look Toby, do you think we could fit all our clothes in those compartments when we tour Italy?" He replied, "Yep, if we sleep naked." – made me laugh again.

The rest of the day was just as much fun. We looked at the European motorcycles in The City. Then we did some shopping and had lunch with The Grandbaby. Bo, Sara, and Elizabeth joined in the search for golf clubs. We were in separate cars due to the car seat. At one point we decided we all needed something cold to drink. Bo phoned and said, "At the corner of Memorial and 63rd, there is a place that sells Tecate." I said, "I don't think your father needs a Tecate right now - a coke will be just fine." At the next stop, Bo pointed out that he had not said "Tecate", but had said "Ducati" - an Italian motorcycle. I felt pretty silly. Eventually, we picked out some golf clubs. They were not expensive like the salesman said we needed, but for me, they will do well. We did not get home until dark – much too late to check out the new clubs. We decided that we would play golf on Sunday afternoon.

Several things happened after church Sunday. We gave away another puppy to our good friend, Terry Dennis, whose grandson named it "Angel Baby". Then a man called wanting to buy our old Dodge pick-up. Not only did he buy the truck, but he took two puppies also. It was kind of bitter sweet. We really needed to sell the truck – it is not like you can just let them die of old age in the pasture like your favorite horse (although some Okies find this acceptable). The Dodge was like a part of the family. We had had it since 1991. It was a ¾ ton, Cummins diesel. It was one heck of a truck. It had taken me through some serious snowstorms and hauled some kids to rodeos. I hated to see it go. I felt the same way about the puppies. Then, Toby took me to the golf course. We walk and play – of course. The new clubs were a hit (pun intended). It is amazing what technology can do. My clubs included a new "hybrid club". It worked great. My game was much better than I expected although never consistent. We played 18 holes until it was too dark to see. I won’t bore you with all the golf-talk (as if I could talk golf). It was a great evening! Toby even had a few shots that did not pass the ladies tee box…

Where was Jesse during the weekend? Saturday she had a quilting party she had to attend. Her group had made many quilts and were drawing numbers to see who got which quilt. She said she enjoyed the trading that went on after the drawing more than anything (like her Papa Hub) and finally ended up with a red quilt called "hugs and kisses." Sunday, she went to Quartz Mountain Resort near Altus. She was meeting her boss and his family there. She went by herself, walked around the lake, and kicked around on her own. Today her boss is putting up a transmitter for a radio station using a helicopter to place it on some mountain. Jesse is hoping to ride in the helicopter. She may have missed the trip to The City, but she never misses an opportunity to fly.