Scattershooting / Restaurants Still Try To Recover From The Pandemic

Glad you are back, readers! Made you look! It's that time you've all been waiting for, and that's Scattershooting, a Case's Column exclusive for many years. As temperatures cool off on the outside, I hope to keep y'all nice and warm on the inside as I share some life stuff with you.............right here.

********

Every so often, I go places and eat and just happen to shoot the breeze with wait staff. Recently, I wanted to get a good barometer on how restaurants in Texas were doing as things rebound from the Chinese coronavirus outbreak that has just riddled our precious world in recent months. So, Ol' Case talked to one of the ladies at a nearby Saltgrass steak house not too long ago. Astonishingly, she revealed that business has been shaky from time to time. The crowds have not been largely coming out, even during what usually are peak hours. The optimist in me believes that people will get the hankering to go back and that a place like Saltgrass and other places have very loyal customers. There are anomalies which happen when it comes to trends. And then, of course, some folks are still a little leery of going to public places, despite falling numbers of virus cases in my part of the world.

I basically told my waitress to just keep her chin up and that things will eventually get better. We need our restaurants, after all, as they are the lifeblood of a city's economy and a staple of our everyday living. Other places I've been to have had mixed results, and some are doing better than others. We're just not used to adjusting to hundred-year pandemics, so business trends are variable and sometimes hard to predict.

Let me just be optimistic for now. In the states where COVID was managed well, business and food are coming back pretty strongly. The rest of the country should eventually follow, though the poorly-run states will have a slower go of it due to political stupidity and a suffering populace. My desire is for a complete recovery at the earliest possible moment.

********

KOKE-FM's (99.3 and 98.5, Austin) Bob Cole is apparently back on the air in his usual perch on KOKE's morning show. I hadn't heard him lately, but every indication is, he's recovered nicely from his recent COVID-19 attack. Welcome back, Barbecue Bob!

While I'm on the subject of KOKE-FM, something is seriously amiss about some of their promotions on both their website and their Facebook page. I realize that they have a certain weekend show on their minds, but let's face it: The Sunday Morning Gospel Show does not begin at 5 a.m. and it certainly does not end at 10. This goes along the lines of what I frequently imply when I say to check your work before submitting it.

For the record, the Gospel show runs from 7 to 11 on Sunday mornings. It's the Saturday morning Country Gold Show which runs from 5 to 10.

********

Can medicines for diabetes also be good for brain cells? It never hurts to find out. Check out this link: https://www.newsmax.com/health/healt.../24/id/988577/

********

How come this writer is only hearing about West Nile virus cases happening in Frisco, Texas, but not any other place? Odd.

I raise this point because it's been a never-ending battle inside Dallas' best suburb. It's a plague which no one had gotten rid of.

********

So, the day has come that Ruth Bader Ginsburg has passed on. That became a game-changer in the parlance of justice, elections, rulings, and other outcomes. It means simply this: Democrats can no longer gain an advantage on Supreme Court cases with only three lefties remaining on the bench. Good for America, and good for the world. Some would say, "Well, you righties already had an advantage...." Well, that's not necessarily so. Chief Justice John Roberts has not always sided with American conservatives on some rulings, particularly when he betrayed our country after declaring the (Un-)Affordable Care Act constitutional. And he has not always sided with a certain president. You know which one.

Still, what we're about to get is going to be way better than just a slim 5-to-4 majority for Republicans, patriotism, and our American way of life. Amy Coney Barrett will be the right pick at the right time, as President Donald Trump had made his decision official Saturday. She will be an outstanding Justice on the Supreme Court. I don't believe that we should have Senate confirmation hearings this time around (especially after the travesty the Dems have created when Brett Kavanaugh was being confirmed), but Senator Lindsey Graham sez we should give the opposition a little opportunity "as long as it is not abuse". Yeah, Lindsey, we'll see how long that lasts, knowing this latest group of Democrats is the most immature, shady, hateful, misguided, and dangerous group that this writer and our country had ever known.

Barrett will be confirmed eventually, and she'll survive just like Kavanaugh did. After Trump is re-elected, we shall see about the very real possibility of at least one more potential new justice. Stephen Breyer, now the Court's oldest placeholder, is 82. Time will tell.

********

My gosh, is baseball's regular season over already? Where has the time gone? Sixty games are about to be history, and playoff fever, for what that's worth now, is beginning. My Houston Astros managed to clinch a spot, but they stand to finish around .500, not exactly what the club had in mind going into the start of this season.

With so many injuries, not the least of which is Justin Verlander's trip to the operating table for Tommy John surgery, the Astros will need to focus on getting players signed and re-signed for a few more years. That dynasty which I predicted to happen (and which other people had expected right about now and through the next decade or so) now looks like it's taking a step backward. Not good.

********

All eyes can now be cast on a certain cat out there in Realville. And she's got her own set of eyes, a set of contrasts, and few extra endowments. You can find them all in this link: https://www.foxnews.com/lifestyle/sa...different-eyes

********

Just what have stupid criminals done lately? Here, now, is an account of how your grass might have gotten mysteriously cut recently.

https://www.policemag.com/542440/mai...ding-lawnmower

********

You know something? I haven't sung in my blog page in a long time. I think it's time to delve into an oldie here. Why not?

Let me dig into some old Scott McKenzie, but with a little different spin on it.

[Clearing throat] ~A-hem~....

If you're going to San Francisco
Be sure to bring some toilet paper there
If you come to San Francisco
You're gonna meet some homeless people there....



********

A feel-good story now on a real hero in an unlikely place. We need more of this around the country.

https://www.foxnews.com/us/good-sama...ilment-suspect

If only New York City would allow its police force (what's left of it) to catch criminals, including the band of looters, shooters, and rioters which the dumb mayor apparently endorses.

********

Corpus Christi's new Harbor Bridge project keeps getting pushed back due to one issue or another. Now, officials think that, thanks to the COVID outbreak, the project can get finished faster than anyone thinks.

https://www.ccbiznews.com/news/corpu...ill-years-away

Don't be surprised if, after the recent new completion date of 2023 was established, that the bridge actually gets done a year or more ahead of that time. Hey, the people behind Flower Mound's Lakeside Tower finally got that rascal done after they mysteriously dragged it out, so anything can happen.

********

I haven't watched any NFL games (except when I have no choice at a local eatery). None for me. Sad, isn't it, since it is that time of year. The league, and other sports leagues, must get rid of Black Lives Matter and that ridiculous black anthem if their fans are to ever come back. Folks, sports and politics just don't mix.

********

For some reason, Community Impact magazine has recently decided to pull back on its coverage consisting of Coppell, Valley Ranch, and Las Colinas. They had that cluster all ready to go when this stupid pandemic hit, so they now have held off. Hopefully, they will bring it back and keep it.

********

Time for me to wrap this baby up for another day. Enjoy the falling leaves, the cooler weather, and some apple cider..............or whatever else makes you happy and giddy in October.

And there you are.