Catered lunches -- Fri., May 4

Cotulla, Texas: 

Bob read my blog from yesterday. I asked if I forgot anything. He said, "Yes, you forgot to mention the catered lunch."

How could I forget? Party Express caterer came to Pad A at our gate to cook lunch for the crew on site. On the way out she stopped and handed Bob two plates loaded with food: marinated flank steak, mac and cheese, pork sausages, rolls, beans, and chocolate cake--Texas-size helpings! Bob thanked her and brought the plates in. 

Bowie (our Siamese cat) and I went nuts over the flank steak. Bowie helped me out by eating a good portion of it. That cat loves steak. Sunnie, on the other hand, could take it or leave it. I didn't particularly care for the food on the rest of the plate, so Bob ate my roll, beans and mac & cheese. I got his serving of steak which I will eat another day (and share with the fur-kids).

I went to bed around 5:30 a.m. and got up at 9:30 a.m. I couldn't go back to sleep. Bob was super busy from 4:30 a.m. until almost the end of his shift. 

Again, we got catered lunches: pork chops with gravy, rice, roll and mixed peas and carrots. The pork chop was very good--she gave us five pork chops for the two of us. Bob doesn't eat red meat so four of the pork chops went in the freezer. If this keeps up, we'll run out of freezer space fast.

While Bob worked his shift, I went into town to do errands:

1. Set us up with General Delivery at the post office
2. Bought a 39-gallon trash can and plastic liner bags at Ace Hardware (no dumpster provided for our garbage). Also talked to Ace about receiving FedEx or UPS deliveries for us (no problem).
3. Went grocery shopping at Super S Foods.

Here's a picture of what we're paid to do: check in all visitors to the site.

You got a problem with that?

After Bob finished his shift, he made a salad to go with our catered food and we had dinner. Bob walked when dinner was over, said he saw the three Springbok antelope farther down the ranch property this evening.

While Bob was gone I had some time to bird watch. The woodpecker was out in its usual tree tonight. I studied it for a long time and I'm 99.9% sure it's a Gila woodpecker. The reddish color on top of its head isn't as bright as a Golden-fronted woodpecker and it doesn't have yellow above its beak.

I've been relatively busy checking trucks in and out this evening. Seems like I've been hopping up and down way more than last night. One trucker who was camping overnight at Pad A had to go to the gate to show his friend how to get in. (Remember it's pitch black out here except for our little lights which don't do much.)  

Then another trucker's trucker friend got stuck and this guy went to pull him out. Apparently he borrowed a heavy-duty chain from another one of the trucker's here and told him he'd be back with it in ten minutes. Well, he wasn't back and the lendee trucker had to leave. Long story short, the trucker who loaned the chain wants me to collect it from the borrower as soon as he returns and save it for the him to pick up tomorrow. Alrighty then.

I finished reading "Catching Fire," the second book in "The Hunger Games" trilogy. What an ending! Luckily I have "Mockingjay" here and I've started reading it. The books are an excellent read.