“Delivery Trucks Made Frequent Stops”

I read in the morning Houston Chronicle, “Raid on steroid ‘factory’ nabs two, Pearland couple among 124 caught in nationwide DEA crackdown”. The article went on to explain about how the steroids had been packaged to present a professional appearance, as if dispensed through a reputable pharmaceutical outlet and there appeared to be a link with China for the steroid materials.

“Neighbor Addie Killian said the couple had lived there for about two years and were good neighbors.”

“She was always out working in the yard with her two small children," she said of Zamora. She recalled how last winter Zamora helped her clear tree limbs that fell during a storm.”

“Killian noted that UPS, FedEx and other delivery trucks made frequent stops at the residence.”

That last line brought a smile to my face; often times wondering what the UPS delivery fellow thinks about some of the items delivered to my house. Last year Lucy found a good deal on one burner butane stoves, something which would be a benefit to anyone without power after a hurricane or some other natural disaster; 420 stoves were delivered and stored in our garage over a period of a couple of weeks, all bought by members of our church throughout the general metropolitan and suburban areas of Houston.

Lucy didn’t make any profit on the sale; just part of her “calling” as Preparedness Leader. The second time the UPS fellow showed up to deliver a couple of hundred stoves he was surprised to find the first batch were no longer in the middle of my garage.

There was another order, around 500 self charging flashlights that required only a few “shakes” to create a beam regardless of the self contained battery being charged. In the Fall Lucy has a connection with Hershey’s Chocolate and hundreds of pounds of chocolate are dropped off at out door.

Then there’s the San Francisco Herb order, which should be just around the corner so the ladies can have all the neat stuff for the holiday baking season. “Hey Lady, are you sure that was Oregano in those boxes?” the DEA would have the dogs sniffing our next order.

Years ago, in the old house, Lucy and several of the ladies from church went in together on a wheat order from Montana. They got a good deal if they bought enough to fill an 18 wheeler; no shipping charges and bulk rates. I’ll never forget the look on the driver’s face when he pulled up in front of my house. He just knew he’d gotten the address wrong, maybe the wrong city or something as I assured him that he could start off loading onto my driveway. My neighbors must have had some thoughts as well, “Always heard those Mormons kept a good stock of food on hand; but this is ridiculous!”

Lucy had all the ladies come by and pick up their wheat and by ten that night it was all gone; again the neighbors had to be scratching their heads wondering if we had put in a cellar or maybe a space ship had beamed it up.

Who’s to say that having a book shelf with thirty bottles of Tunguska instead of books is odd? I almost forgot, this past month Lucy finagled a deal on 16 brand new in the box Ham radio sets, all sold at cost to folks who she lined up to be “block captains” in her Emergency Preparedness job at church. She had them all take and pass the Ham test just in case all the phone lines are down, the cell phones networks crash and folks need to stay in touch.

Thank goodness the frozen berry order gets dropped off over by the church; now that gets a little hectic getting folks to pick up cases of Individually Quick Frozen (IQF) strawberries before they start to thaw. My freezer has enough frozen blackberries to last another year on top of my Blue Bell Natural Vanilla Bean Ice Cream. That’s not an advertisement, just an explanation of how I like to use the berries.

I heard another black ops helicopter fly over and I think my phone’s been tapped. Did I mention that my locksmith supplies are dropped off by UPS?