There will be a baby shower for Christina Lockhart at the Kosse Cafe this coming Sunday from 3:00-5:00 p.m. Christina recently gave birth to Kayden Charlie-Foxx Coronado. The father is Ernesto Coronado. Everyone is invited.
Bill Parcells resigned as coach of the Dallas Cowboys. Click for article. A Continental Airlines pilot evidently died in the cockpit while on a flight out of Houston. Click for article. Hillary Clinton is running for President. Click for announcement video. 65% of Americans disapprove of George W. Bush's performance as President. Click for article. And an illegal immigrant from Guyana got lost in New York City for five freezing days because he was fearful of being deported. Click for article.
January 21, 2007
The weather continues to be dreary. We need some sunshine. I read that some members of the state legislature are going to propose bringing casino gambling to Texas. Click for article. Not being a gambler, it will have no personal effect. I know the evangelicals are always against it but the result is that the gamblers simply take their money to neighboring states. Even Republican Governor Rick Perry is pushing for slot machines at race tracks so as to increase state revenue. If the measure passes perhaps someone can stick a small casino on the outskirts of Kosse.
I will eventually return to posting a daily blog but I've been tied up on another internet project the past few weeks.
January 17, 2007
Today's forecast is for a 100% chance of sleet and snow. The drive from Bremond to Kosse at 9:00 p.m. last night was treacherous in spots as the car was sliding while accelerating or stopping. The forecast doesn't show much improvement for the remainder of the week. Evidently Kosse will not be a victim of global warming this week.
Most of the local school districts have cancelled classes tomorrow. This type of weather has a significant negative impact on the businesses. While predictable, it doesn't help when the bills arrive. Of course I recall bemoaning the 100-degree days of August and the resultant electric bills.
The Kosse Blog posts are having to be temporarily shorter and less frequent as I am busy on another project.
January 15, 2007
January is already half over and the weather is atrocious. It is 1:00 a.m. as I write this and the rain continues. It is already below freezing so I know my trip home promises traversing a sheet of ice on the road. The worst spot is the bridge south of Meadowcreek Park. I always slow down to a crawl and even then the car has little control when the ice is hit. There have been times during weather like this that vehicles will come zooming around me driving at a dangerously fast speed for the conditions. Not wise.
Gasoline is selling for $1.99 per gallon in Bremond. Freezing temperatures in California will cause an increase in citrus prices. Click for article. Today is Martin Luther King Day. Saddam Hussein's brother was sent to the gallows yesterday and in the process of his hanging his head was yanked off the remainder of his body. Click for article. And so goes the world of January, 2007.
January 13, 2007
Christina Lockhart had a baby boy yesterday. I was told his name is Kaden Charlie Fox Coronado. The father is Ernesto Coronado, who had just finished his leave time from the Marines. The proud grandparents are Kosse Cafe manager Stacy Lockhart and husband Jeff, along with Fina and Joe Lopez. We wish them well.
It started raining about midnight when the norther arrived and at 4:00 a.m. is still pouring down. I read we still need more rain although it seems to me it's been pretty wet lately. I suppose the need is in reference to short on cumulative totals over a period of time. There is a tin roof on my house and the sound of the rain makes a melodious rhythmic sound.
You would think the government catastrophes in Marlin would at some point take a breather. Alas this is not the case. Evidently the municipal court clerk allowed the city to lose $1.1 million in unpaid traffic tickets, and the statute of limitations has run out on collecting them. Click for article.
The final state sales tax revenues disbursement has been made by Texas State Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn's Office. Reflective of the significant increase in business activity within the Kosse city limits in 2006, the amount of revenue collected showed a 57.29% increase over the previous year. The total collection for Kosse came to $27,402.54 for 2006 versus the 2005 total of $17,421.14.
A new County Judge and two new commissioners have now taken their places on Commissioners Court. Click for article. Among the first actions promised by the new court will be a crackdown on trucks which are over the load limit set on county roads. Kosseite John McCarver is the Precinct 1 commissioner on the court.
I went to Bushwhackers yesterday to get my hair cut. I got to see Karen Partin's new daughter, Karter. Karen and Tim have now opened their Kicking Mule workout and tanning facility. I was told it is going quite well.
It's supposed to get extremely cold starting Saturday night, with the possibility of freezing rain. Enjoy the sun while you can.
President Bush is giving his speech tonight on his plans for Iraq. Click for article.
I was raised to be a Dallas Cowboys fan. In the 1960's and 70's it was easier on the nerves than it is now. Click for article. During the days of Don Meredith, Roger Staubach, Bob Hayes, Bob Lilly, and Calvin Hill, you always had faith they would come back to win no matter what, and they almost always did. This feeling was revived during the Troy Aikman-Emmitt Smith days. Watching the game Saturday night I realized this feeling is gone.
According to the London Times, Israel has made plans to nuke the Iranians. Click for article. I don't know what to think about this, but I know it will cause chaos in the world and most likely cause energy prices to skyrocket.
I see that the Pizza Patron restaurant chain is now accepting either dollars or pesos. Click for article. The majority of their customers are Latinos and they are portraying it as an attempt to help their customers who have leftover pesos from their excursions south of the border. Nice thought until I read that the value of the peso is 10.94 per dollar and Pizza Patron is charging 12 pesos per dollar value. In other words, they are charging a 9% premium on pesos. Maybe I could start taking them at our restaurants and make an additional 9% profit for doing nothing beyond exchanging pesos at the bank. I am classifying this in the category of duping the undocumented.
The Democrats have officially taken over control of the Congress. Click for article. They have put forth a number of proposals, including raising the minimum wage. Being a small business owner, I have mixed feelings on this. I only have a couple of employees who make the minimum $5.15 an hour, although I have a number who make less than the proposed $7.25 per hour. Labor is my second highest operational cost at the cafe (after food cost), so there will be no option but to increase prices to compensate. This is the dilemma. The Republicans are in agreement that the minimum wage needs increasing after ten years, although they are wanting it done in two steps. We'll see what happens over the next few weeks.
My new office neighbors appear to have moved into what is known as the Bassett building. I will see if he minds me taking interior photos of this journey back in time. As mentioned before he told me the upstairs portion of the building is still furnished as a circa-1930's doctor's office. I hope to be able to publish the photos on here. It should be most interesting.
The price of crude oil took a tremendous drop last week, losing over 8% of its value. Click for article. We could see under $2.00 per gallon gasoline soon. The warm weather is also keeping natural gas prices down. I remember one month last year when my gas bill at the cafe doubled to over $1400.00. It was a most unpleasant surprise.
The road construction crew has begun installing the curbs in front of the Kosse Cafe. I wish they would hurry up and finish so our truck parking area can re-open. It has been completely blocked off by the construction.
My brother-in-law Philip got remarried. Philip was married to my sister Mary for thirty-eight years. Mary died of cancer a few years ago and Philip was her rock until the end. His new wife, Linda, also lost her husband to cancer. We met her at Lee Ann's wedding and she seems very nice. Even though I suppose he is technically no longer my brother-in-law, he will always be part of the family and we wish him the best.
It is early Thursday morning and the rain is pouring down. The Groesbeck Journal was delivered to the cafe yesterday and needless to say the headlines revolved around last week's tornado. While still a killer, things could have been much worse. According to the Journal, the tornado went on a seventeen mile straight-line south to north course just one mile west of Kosse, Thornton, Groesbeck, and Mexia. Click for article. Can you even imagine the possible number of fatalities had the F-2 tornado been one mile eastward through the downtown areas of our communities? I looked up the various tornado classifications, and this is the description of a F-2 tornado: "113-157 miles per hour winds. Considerable damage. Roofs torn off frame houses; mobile homes demolished; boxcars pushed over; large trees snapped or uprooted; light object missiles generated." Click for article. Had it been one mile eastward, its 400-foot wide path would have enveloped hundreds of frame houses and mobile homes and most likely a train or two, seeing as the railroads run through the middle of all these towns. I would say we were quite fortunate, although I doubt the family of the deceased would necessarily agree with that.
I feel like I'm getting a cold. My throat is sore and scratchy and my obese body is freezing despite sitting right on top of the heater. I've mentioned before about suffering from every malady known to mankind (which is partially true), but ironically I am very rarely sick. 99% of my doctor visits involve having medicines refilled for high blood pressure, anxiety, depression, diabetes, acid reflux, fluid retention, and general mental instability. The last time I was in the hospital was thirty years ago. Anyway, I will take my Equate Ibuprofen and keep on going.
I heard very few fireworks exploding in Kosse this New Years. In all honesty I don't know if there is a fireworks ban within the Kosse city limits or not. I do know there is a fireworks stand beside the cafe, so I assume it is legal to have fireworks within the city limits. When we lived in Houston it was illegal to even bring them into the city limits. I don't remember the exact amount of the fine but it was a huge amount ($1500-$2000). And this was for simply having possession of the fireworks. The legal authorities would sit in unmarked cars near the outlying fireworks stands and watch the fireworks buyers. If they drove into the city limits they would be stopped and fined.
Ryan got a high-definition LCD television for Christmas. The clarity is much better than the circa-1986 Montgomery Ward 25" console we have enjoyed for the past two decades. Most of my television viewing actually occurs on the $59.00 Sanyo 13" at my office. Each day I record the Beverly Hillbillies, Bill O'Reilly, and Hannity & Colmes on my $49.00 Panasonic VCR and watch them while doing my work. Thank goodness for cheap Wal Mart electronics.
Kosse was much luckier than we earlier realized in regards to this weekend's tornado. The National Weather Service has determined there were two tornadoes rather than one, and the first one formed just two miles north of Kosse. Click for article. The F-2 tornado headed north/northeast for seventeen miles with a 400-foot wide path of destruction. Had it headed south rather than north with its 125 miles per hour winds it could have been devastatingly deadly for our community.
A video of Saddam Hussein's hanging was posted on the internet yesterday. This is the link to it if you care to see it. Warning: It is extremely graphic. Click for video.
