Just Shuffling Along

Monday we went to Kennesaw Mountain Memorial Cemetery where my parents are buried to put flowers on their grave – which we were late doing. The flowers have been prepared for weeks, but I just haven’t been that way for any reason.

Over my parents’ grave I reached down to pull the old flowers out. The styrofoam that held the flowers was snug in the metal vase. I really had to twist hard to get that Styrofoam that tight in there. Boy, am I good! I tried with force to dislodge it the thing crumbled, leaving me holding the flowers in my hand and I had a vase full of hard Styrofoam. Damn! Pardon my French, Mama and Daddy.

We carried the vase home to work on it. With the aid of a huge screw driver and a knife we got the Styrofoam cut up it in bits, and put the new flowers in it.

Yesterday I returned to the cemetery to put the flowers in the vase on their grave.

As I said, whenever possible I like to combine trips. After I placed the flowers and was on my way home, I thought if I just turned here instead of there, and go down Old Mountain Road at the base of Kennesaw Mountain I could enjoy the view and not only that, I would be in eventually going right by Brandi’s World Famous Hotdogs. I have not had a Brandi’s spicy chili hotdog in 2008. It was time.

In Brandi’s I noticed Brandi wasn’t there. She must have been at Brandi’s World Famous Hotdogs in Cartersville – either that or maybe she is out pregnant or with a newborn again.

Either way, she left three able-bodied ladies in charge. One of the ladies was the cook who has always been there, even when it was Betty’s World Famous Hotdogs. She has similar facial features of Betty, I think she is probably Betty’s daughter. The young lady that used to be new and act new and inexperienced seems to be in charge now and smoothly runs the operation – she has Brandi’s features, so is probably her sister. The 3rd girl is the main waitress… she had a low cut on, to expose more than a couple of inches of cleavage. I read someplace that good cleavage exposure ups the ante in the tips department… and it goes to the ceiling if the exposed cleavage waitress will look the person paying in the eye and make some kind of body contact – like patting him on the shoulder…. Of course it helps if it is a waitress and the customer is male.

I got my food to go. At Brandi’s, and when it was Betty’s, I have always found it amazing that the staff work in perfect harmony with each other with perfect communication without saying a word. All three women listen to the customers when they place their orders and work as a well oiled synchronized machine. I don’t think I have ever heard any of them speak a word to each other but they talk a lot with their facial expressions.

And now I noticed they have tee-shirts available. The lady that I think is probably Brandi's sister was wearing one. It was white, on the front it said, "Brandi's World's Famous Hotdogs" and on the back was a fiery looking race car. Fiery looking race car? If white is the only color they come in, I think their typical diner has that good old southern deep-fried fat around his middle, white would tend to show off that lard. I won't rest until I have one of those tee-shirts!

On the way home I thought it of Willow sadly watching me sadly eating my hotdog and not offering her any of it. So, I went through a fast food hamburger joint and bought a 99¢ hamburger and “had it my way” nothing but meat and bund for Willow.

When I got home, first, I chopped her meat and bund up in bite size chunks. I did this because she sometimes likes to take her food to the carpet and eat it… this way, with bite size chunks she is more likely to eat it over her bowl. She did, but she gobbled it up. She was finishing up just as I was sitting down to eat.

Willow sat and sadly watch me eat my hotdog without me offering her any.