It’s time to sit down once again over a beverage of your choice and chat about things other than just running, riding, and training. Won’t you please join me? I’ll go first…
If we were having coffee…..
I’d tell you that we had an epic fail on Cinco de Mayo. Always in the past we have avoided going to a Mexican restaurant on Cinco de Mayo in the same way we avoid going to brunch on Mother’s Day – I prefer a relaxing meal, not going into a known madhouse.
This year; however, with restaurants closed to dining-in due to the corona virus, we decided to support or favorite TexMex restaurant and pick up carryout. We ordered online and selected a 6:45 PM pickup. When we arrived the parking lot was full of people standing around waiting for their orders. A lady walked by who had just gotten her order and said her pickup time was 4:30. Oh boy!
Around 7 PM I could tell someone under the tent near the door was making an announcement so I stepped in closer from my socially distanced spot in the back of the parking lot so I could hear. The person speaking was a sheriff’s deputy telling everyone that if they didn’t spread out properly, he was going to muffle, muffle, muffle. I couldn’t hear the rest of what he said, but it was probably that he was going to close down the restaurant.
We waited until 7:40 when the owner came out and near tears said they had to cancel the remainder of the unfilled orders. It’s worth noting that he brought a chair to the middle of the parking lot and stood on it and shouted so everyone could easily hear him. He said they hadn’t run out of food, they just didn’t have the manpower to prepare the food for as many orders as came in. I felt so badly for him – they do a great dine-in business and I suspect that there weren’t limits set for how many online orders could come in per 15-minute time slot.
We ordered dinner from them last Friday night and our dinner was every bit as delicious as it is when we eat it in their restaurant. Also, carry-out margaritas are the bomb! Here’s hoping our governor will continue to allow cocktails to-go after the pandemic restrictions are lifted.
If we were having coffee…..
I’d tell you that we had to have a rotted out dead tree cut down a couple of weeks ago. When we noticed that the cut up sections of the stump were in the shape of a C, we asked that they leave a section behind. Since our last name starts with a C, we thought having this cool piece of garden art next to our patio would be the perfect.
If we were having coffee…..
I’d tell you that I finally scored some toilet paper just as I was approaching panic mode!
If we were having coffee…..
I’d tell you that we have the cutest little squatter in our front garden. I saw a hole in the mulch and used my foot to cover it back up only to be startled by this cutie jumping out.
If we were having coffee…..
I’d tell you that my husband brought Skinny Pop Popcorn home from the store and because I have zero self control around it, I asked him to hide it. Imagine my surprise when weeks later I found it in our office. Apparently, his self control is much better than mine.
If we were having coffee…..
I’d tell you that I ordered these fake trees from Wayfair for our front porch.
If you remember, last summer a deer came up onto our porch and ate our beautiful purple petunias. In years past I had occasionally seen a groundhog munching on our petunias, but apparently deer have an affinity for purple flowers as well.
Caught in the act!
Certain that whatever I chose to plant would be tasty morsels for said deer, I decided to show him a thing or two and go plastic!
If we were having coffee…..
I’d tell you that I’d heard on the radio that stores were sold out of sympathy cards because of people buying them for corona virus victims and that there were some sort of delay in the delivery of new cards to stores. I’m a stickler for sending cards and had used up our last sympathy card last week. Imagine my surprise when on two different visits to the grocery store I couldn’t find sympathy cards.
And finally, if we were having coffee…..
I’d ask if you have any virtual races coming up, and if you do, I’d wish you good luck and remind you to have fun!
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Today I’m joining Deborah at Confessions Of A Mother Runner and Coco at Running With Perseverance for their monthly Ultimate Coffee Date linkup which goes live the first Friday of every month. Be sure to stop by their blogs for a cup of coffee and to say hello; and while you’re there, be sure to check out some of the other bloggers who are participating in the linkup.
- Questions:
- • Have any non-essential businesses started to open up where you live? ~ We’re still in phase 1, but most of the rest of Virginia just moved into phase 2.
- • Do you enjoy sending cards?
- • If we were having coffee, what would you tell me?
Oh man. I feel so bad for our local small businesses and restraints here. We have opened into “phase” two but with weird openings. Pools are open but recreational parks are not? Anyway. Our dear eat every flower we ever plant. So I just gave up lol hit fake trees are a brilliant idea!!
I tried running a virtual 5k but it’s just not the same at all. I won’t be doing anymore unless the charity is near and dear to my heart. Oh and you say Virginia…I’m signed up for the Virginia Beach half in Sept. I wonder if they’ll keep it on?
Jess recently posted…Training Log Virginia Beach Half – Week 15 05/25/2020
It’s hard to speculate, but I wouldn’t be surprised if all large fall races are canceled. 🙁
I am so bad about cards. Even though I know it will mean something to someone. I’m not really into cards myself. I like ecards, but i know it’s not the same.
LOL about the popcorn! Sometimes I have a lot of self control, and then suddenly out of the blue something I resisted no problem will be a problem again. And sometimes I have to hide things from Mr. Judy . . .
We don’t have deer, but we do have rabbits & chipmunks, and they get at a lot of stuff!
I’m not as good at sending birthday cards as I used to be – I only send them to my mom, sons, and the girls these days. I try to send my mom at least one card a month because I know how much she loves them. I do try to always send sympathy cards, though, and often flowers.
There’s something about Skinny Pop… 😀
So funny/infuriating that the deer came up on your porch to eat your petunias. You found a good alternative. I bet deer will not be tempted to nibble on a fake tree! And they look pretty. I have some critter coming up on my porch nibbling on succulent plants I have there. Ugh!
We have ordered take-out exactly once since the shutdown – sushi. We do need to support more small businesses. I am not sure about going out to restaurants yet. Today is the first day our region of the state opens for outdoor dining at 50% capacity. It just doesn’t feel right. Maybe soon.
Laurie recently posted…June Coffee Date – Make Mine Iced
We’ve done curb-side pickup a few times. At first we were only buying things that we could microwave with the hopes that if there was any virus on it the microwave would kill it. I’ve gotten more relaxed and even ordered a salad recently. Everyone has their own comfort level; we’ve got to do what feels right to us.
Have a great weekend!
Your plastic trees look pretty authentic! I love that C “sculpture” from your tree! That’s exactly something I’d do…only an “H” would not look too natural LOL
A rotted and hollowed out H would be quite unique!
We had almost the exact same problem on cinco de mayo! Our order was canceled as well. While it was annoying at the time, I was happy that the restaurants were making money. We had ours the next night. They actually sent us a gift card to use for a future order. Great idea on the fake trees. I always see them advertised and wondered how they look in person. We have a deer issue as well. I may try that for fall. Thanks for joining for coffee!
We’ve really been trying to help our local restaurants, especially recently. We were a lot more cautious in March and April.
Have a great weekend!
That deer is in for a real shock if it tries to eat those plastic plants!
I also love that stump. How cool is that?
We never really had much of a TP shortage here. Right now, it’s hard to get wipes again. That’s odd about the cards. I was in Target today getting wedding and graduation cards, and I didn’t notice an entire section sold out.
It’s great that you didn’t experience the paper shortages that we did. I’ve yet to see wipes available since this all went down. Luckily, I had just bought a huge container of Clorox wipes in February for my gym that we have been using.
Whoaaaa, that is one super popular restaurant! I’m glad they’re getting a lot of business! (I bet the cocktails-to-go are helping a lot of people deal with this pandemic.)
That “C” looks so perfect–I would’ve asked em’ to leave a section behind too!
Hopefully, they’re seeing patrons at their outdoor patio now that it’s allowed to open.
That is so odd – and so sad — about the cards. When our fav Indian place first reopened for take-out they were overwhelmed, but recovered quickly. We actually haven’t gotten take-out for a while. Great idea on the mini trees. I hate watering plants/flowers and usually quit by August. :-:P
I know – even after hearing about it on the radio I didn’t expect to see a shortage of cards here.
I’m not crazy about watering either, but I do it. If only I could replace the flowers on my deck with realistic fake ones… LOL