Three days

We got up and packed for the trip home. We spent some time looking at an old album from Mom’s effects. We had some sunflower seed toast with strawberry jam. We left at 10:00 and left town with little trouble. It was much easier getting out than in. I went to a gas station I remembered from the trip down and filled up with 2.909 Gasoline. We had lunch in Clayton at a Pizza Hut and went on to Franklin where the motor home is. We got the bifold with almost no effort. I thought it might take an hour but finished in 15 minutes. We returned home and prepared for our guests, Rosalind Kraus and her husband, Herb. She is our choir director. We served the saffron jambalaya Evelyn had made last week. We also served corn bread salad from the Ingalls grocery. We had a delightful visit with them, learning that they are both retired opera performers. She has performed on Broadway in some musical comedies. He is retired military and they have lived in Germany for many years. They returned to Waynesville four years ago. They left and we cleaned up the dishes before retiring.
Back to work. As I was sweeping the parking lot, the manager called me back to the store for a phone call. I had no idea who would call me at work, but it was someone in the state corporate office telling me I had won a contest I didn’t know I was in. The prize was a new pair of work shoes or the equivalent in money. I don’t need another pair of shoes so I took the money. We will give it to the Open Door soup kitchen. I finished work and came home, fired up the smoker, and smoked country style ribs (my favorite), 5 chicken breasts, and a salmon filet we had bought last night. Things turned out fine except the chicken breasts look pretty hard. They might be chicken jerky. We ate dinner and went to choir practice. We went to the hotel and then came home to watch the Cubs.
Thursday was an interesting day. First the assistant manager with the key to the store was more than a half hour late. He did promise to clock us in at 8. We began working and did get most things ready by opening at 10. I finished my work and began filling the small salsa cups that go with the taco salads. We got so busy that I could not finish the job for three hours. There was a continuous line at the drive through and the dining room was full most of the time. The line workers were swamped making food orders. Everyone was pretty tired by the time I left. One amazing thing happened during the day. One of the teenage girl workers asked if I could add very well. I was a bit apprehensive but said yes. She said I have fried two groups of three baskets of chips and am supposed to make 8. How many do I lack? This high school student and another did not know how to add 3+3 and subtract 2 from 8. I think 6 of our 7 grandchildren could work that problem. These are high school juniors! How frightening. We came home and rested until going to Casterline’s for an elaborate hot dog dinner. The side dishes were green beans, macaroni and cheese, deviled eggs, relishes, jello and apple pie a-la-mode for dessert. We then played Farckel, a game we had played with them last week. They obviously loved it because they asked us to bring it with us. We came home and watched the news.