Yes, yes. We all knew Mr. Cod had closed the doors on their Grissom and Timber Path location. And as you would expect, a new Mexican Restaurant has taken over. Who couldn’t see that coming?
The building has been painted a new orange-ish color and now, the Mr. Cod sign comes down!
In your honor, Mr. Cod, I have some real catfish on my mind…
Filed under Grissom, Mr Cod, Timber Path
I may have mentioned before that we routinely take my slacks and shirts to a place nearby to have them pressed. Dry Cleaning Station is the name and they are located in the Cross Creek Shopping Center at Grissom, Culebra and Tezel.
We’ve been going to this place for years and aside from a few miscues, like the times I would go in and the guy at the counter was in dispose for way more than the “be back in 5 minutes” sign on the door suggested, we have been happy with the service.
That was until about a month or two ago when some new owners or managers took the place over. The regular employees have all left and the new group can’t seem to get their act together. I have yet to go in and have my clothes ready on the day promised since this new group took over. My wife went as far as to tell the manager (or at least someone who seemed to be in charge) that we were done dealing with them. We tried another place near our house, Great Northwest Alterations, but as the name implies, they seemed to be an alteration shop more than a laundry place and between the price and the failure to deliver on-time, we were done with them after one attempt. Nice lady, though.
My wife even went as far as ironing my clothes herself but when a huge pile amassed in the laundry room, she decided that we should see if the folks at DCS had gotten their act together.
So on Thursday, I had two pair of slacks and two shirts to pick-up. I went in with my ticket and while I waited, there was a disgruntled customer in front of me upset that half his order was missing. I already knew it was a mistake to come on the day the clothes were supposed to be ready. Of course, when the guy gave up and left with only half his order, it was my turn to find out that one of my shirts was missing. Instead of taking the slacks and the one shirt that was ready, I just left it all there and opted to return Friday afternoon.
On Friday I went in and presented my ticket and the person reported that they were not done with my second shirt. I told her that it was due on Thursday. She just looked at me as if to ask, “What did you expect?“. She then told me to please come back Saturday.
On Saturday, against the better advice of my wife, I went in with ticket in hand around 10:30 to collect my order. Still no shirt. This time, the same lady told me that the people who do the pressing of the clothing don’t finish until noon, so I should come back then. Instead of ruining my Saturday, I decided I’d wait until today (Monday) just to give them extra special extended time to do the ironing of the one shirt.
Today, I walk in and the same lady tells me that they have the two pair of slacks and one of the shirts but the second shirt is not ready. She then asked me if it was due for pick-up today. I know this is where most people simply lose their cool, start throwing things around or empty a clip into the nearest ironing board, but frankly, I’m just a little too laid back for that sort of thing.
I told her that my order was due to be ready last Thursday and that on Saturday, she told me they would be done ironing my shirt by noon that day. She then changed her tune and flat out told me that the shirt was not there and perhaps I could come back later. WTH? So I asked, “What do you guys do when you lose a shirt?” She just looked at me like she was about to suggest I come back another time but then asked me if I knew what color it was. It has been so long that I had no idea what color the shirt was. So then I asked her if she could get my slacks and perhaps I could figure out what color the shirt might have been based upon the slacks it came in with. I already knew that I would never see the shirt again and there is no telling on how I am supposed to prove how much it cost to replace. For a moment, I really thought about coming up with some really fabulous color scheme to give the lady to search for, but in all honesty, I offered “maybe yellow, but I really have no idea.“
So today, we dropped off some slacks and some shirts at the Pilgrim Cleaners on Tezel at Guilbeau. I can already tell that will be a one time deal simply because they don’t offer a “press only” service.
So, any ideas?* Anyone know of a reliable laundry service nearby that can press your clothes without losing them?
*Just for the record, I can press my own shirts and pants and actually don’t mind doing it. I’m just trying to do my part to boost the economy by offering to pay for reliable service.
Filed under cross creek, Culebra, Dry Cleaning Station, Grissom, Guilbeau, Tezel
We got a call from a regular reader here informing us that we must proceed to the corner of Grissom and Timber Path for quite the sighting of Strange in 78250. Turns out, we had witnessed this spectacle earlier. Nevertheless, proof that when the weather is nice like it is today, a refreshing 87 degrees, you can enjoy the day as long as you have the right place to sit (and apparently, the proper decor).
I know, most people bust out a few lawn chairs and take it out in the back yard, but a parking lot on a corner with a couch and a suit or armor? Strange.
Filed under Grissom, Strange, Timber Path
If you are wondering what happened to your local bank, they closed. The good news is, instead of cash, you can use your ATM card to get some beer and some wings!
A regular here suggested we give the new WingStation on Culebra/Grissom/Tezel a shot, and given that we have to eat from time to time, we thought what better way to spend an early Friday evening by stopping in for some vittles and welcoming a new restaurant to the hood.
It is un-American to eat a wing without a beer, and these folks are on top of that. I didn’t bother to ask for a full list, but they had several on draft as well as a cooler full of long necks to choose from.
We opted for a two person combo that includes 20 wings (choice of two flavors), an enormous basket of fries, 
some healthy carrots and celery to make you feel better about yourself and drinks.
The place is small, but clean; well appointed with flat screens and a very large projection screen, so I could easily see this as a place to catch a few quarters of a game as you chow down.
When asked, we identified ourselves as new customers and the store GM kindly hooked us up with a serving of the Rojo’s. Rojo’s are sliced potatoes with some sort of yummy seasoning on them. When you dip them in Ranch sauce, you’ll be happy! If you have to choose between Rojos and fries, while the fries are great, go with the Rojos.
Of course, we had the fries too. And yes, too much for a couple to eat but very good.
We got an order of the Teriyaki and an order of the spicy BBQ, both of which were very acceptable in my mind. Two different folks suggested next time we should order the spicy Teriyaki – which I intend to do. It took time to get the order but that was actually a good thing for us. The fact is, I generally shy away from wing type of places simply because the wings have been sitting there for hours just waiting for you to select a flavor. No offense to those of you who are fans, but Buffalo Wild Wings is not on my return list for just that reason. WingStation offered up some meaty wings; not overcooked and not drowning in a pool of excess sauce.
Call me a baby, but my one complaint is the napkin situation. How do you run a wing operation without napkins on the table? ‘Nuff said!
Fair price, beer, TV’s, friendly folks. WingStation at Culebra/Grissom/Tezel. Give them a shot and you’ll be happy you did.
Filed under Culebra, Grissom, Tezel, WingStation
And when I say “tubs”, I’m not necessarily pointing out my huge belly, but I can understand if you took it that way.
I know, it feels like I have not provided any information in at least a week. You may be thinking that now that we have the little jacuzzi action going, we can’t be bothered with anything else. Oh sure, the timing – what with the end of the season for most of the TV shows we watch, there doesn’t seem to be anything pressing keeping us from taking a dip to relax the muscles before bed. I highly recommend it – if the hot tub is working.
For those of you not paying attention, we purchased a spa/jacuzzi/hot tub whatever – over the Memorial Day weekend. Well, the following Saturday, we went back to – Watson’s Family Leisure over on San Pedro to attend “Spa School“. They offer this seminar to pool owners (Pool School) and spa owners as a free service to help you better understand how all the chemicals work. Even if you bought your spa or pool somewhere else, they are happy to have you join the class and believe me, it was well worth it. I seriously was lost and Brandon, our instructor cleared a lot of things up.
Oh, if you get queasy really easily, you may want to skip this picture.
Too late, I guess. Sorry. Anyway, this poor bird for some reason flew into the truck parked next to me. I honestly thought it was a prop at first – you know how you see guys hang big brass sacks from the trailer hitch of their trucks. But upon closer inspection, it was a real bird. Makes good eatin’ in lean times.
So back to the hot tub. We had this routine down of going out at about 9PM each night, sitting in the tub for half an hour and then coming inside, getting ready for bed and seriously sleeping much better. Hell, a doctor should have written me a prescription for this years ago and perhaps I wouldn’t have such crappy sleeping habits.
So there was a huge rain storm sometime during the week and the next thing you know, the tub has gone all haywire on us. Of course, we did all the standard troubleshooting – you know, like reading the manual and such – and I even got on the Google and found a web page to ask questions to. (Still no answer on that one, though I may go back and answer it myself). I disconnected the power and restarted it multiple times, but the thing was just going crazy.
I called Family Leisure just before their closing time and talked to a few folks there, but their spa technician was out and they took my info. The next morning, I went out and just cut the power from the breaker figuring there was no sense in blowing the spa up, and I went to work. (Is this too much information? I haven’t even gotten to the fish story yet.)
I get ahold of Austin, the Spa Tech, and he takes all the information and advises me to cut the power for at least 24 hours, pointing out that there is some memory in the system that should clear after 24 hours. I was startled at first because when he mentioned the spa having memory, I started feeling a little nervous about a minor situation with one of the jets. Oh, I’m just kidding Mr. Naughty-Thoughts…
Anyway, long story short, we waited 24 hours, cranked on the power and we are as good as gold. Everything reset as expected and I’m happy to report that we just got out of the tub not long ago.
I got an interesting e-mail the other night from a reader and person involved with the Mr. Cod company. The gist of the e-mail was that he had read about our rough experience with the Mr. Cod on Grissom and Timber Path and was hoping we might come back for another try. He very graciously offered a free meal but of course, I declined the freebie. But I did say we would be happy to visit again, and we did just that, this evening.
We always seem to find excitement. When we walked in, there were no customers at all. The place was empty with the exception of a single cook and the lady at the counter. We placed our order and then began to look for a place to sit. I’m guessing in an effort to save money, the air conditioner was set to a brisk 85 or 90 degrees, because I began to sweat. This is no joke; I walked from table to table, booth to booth until we found the coolest place to sit in the restaurant then took a seat.
As we were waiting, an older gentleman and his son walked in. If you follow on Facebook, you already know what happened next. I was in the middle of uploading a picture of my Mr. Cod receipt to FB when my wife yells at me to go help the man. I was oblivious to the fact (and this is why people should not text and drive) that the older guy was having a medical situation. I ran over to see if they needed help, but my wife immediately jumped into action, directing the lady behind the counter to call 9-1-1 NOW! The younger man got his father seated and Eva began to ask him how he was etc. The lady on the phone suddenly had an issue with speaking English and promptly handed off the phone to my wife. It wasn’t that the dispatchers don’t speak both Spanish and English, but you have got to pick one language and stick with it as you try to describe the situation in an emergency.
Bottom line: The man was okay and everyone lived happily ever after. The paramedics arrived and commented about the extreme heat, just as the A/C kicked in and my platter of fish arrived. Deciding not to haul the guy away in the ambulance, they ordered dinner. That’s one way to generate business. (I kid, of course).
So, my wife ordered up the fish sandwich. We had good luck with this on our last visit and once again, she was very pleased with the the taste and the way it is served. The fries were fine and plenty. We realized that we could have easily ordered the fish sandwich with fries and a single plank of fish for me and been full.
I saw that they offer catfish now and so I had a fish platter that came with a piece of catfish and 3 fried shrimp. They have figured out the cooking time for the shrimp. These were meaty and not under or overcooked. I was not expecting the catfish to be fried in the same batter as the normal fish they offer. I guess I didn’t know what to expect, but it was just fine. I did enjoy it and have no complaints at all in the quality, or the presentation.
They have napkin dispensers now!
We did order some pies (I had lemon and it was just as good as the one next door at What-a-Burger) and I’m not sure if the meals came with drinks or not. The ticket came out to over $18.00 and for what seems like a fast food atmosphere, that still seems a tad bit steep to me. But I won’t quibble over a few dollars as long as the food is good.
I am told that they have a new Mr. Cod over on DeZavala, and I’m sure we will give it a spin, if only to follow-up on all this. If other readers have tried them out recently, (It has been over a year since the Mr. Cod on Grissom opened), I’d love to read your comments.
I think we planted our peach tree about two years ago. Seriously, how awesome is this? I just wish the skin wasn’t so fury. I prefer the ones in a can with light syrup.
And there you have it. I’ve been informed that I’m slackin’ on the bloggin’; hope to write more sooner rather than later, but it isn’t looking good for this weekend. Lots to do!
Filed under Family Leisure, Grissom, Mr Cod, Peaches, Timber Path, Watsons
I know, it is entirely too easy to yammer on and on about the driving habits of people in our fair city, but may I take just a brief moment to indulge you in something that simply drives me bonkers?
You know how at most major intersections, they have that Yield Lane on the right that allows people making a right turn to continue on their way while those of you who are going straight through the intersection have to wait? Well, that little right hand turn lane is of no use if those of you going straight won’t have the courtesy to allow us people turning right to get into the lane.
Like today, I was at the intersection of Culebra/Grissom/Tezel/FM471. I know, that reads like two intersections, but actually, because of the naming conventions in San Antonio, it is actually a single intersection. Please, don’t even get me started on that.
Anyway, I pull up behind a Lincoln Town Car that happens to be the second vehicle in line at the stop light. Now let me be clear: I have seen 20/20, Nightline, Dateline NBC and COPS. I know all about the need to keep a safe distance behind people at a stoplight or stop sign so that you have some room to escape in the event of a carjacking. But, when it means that you are blocking the line of traffic behind you so you can be safe, isn’t there a cost benefit analysis that takes place in your mind? Like, could I be pissing off ten cars who don’t want to carjack me to the point that they might want to shoot me just to make themselves feel better?
So I am behind the Town Car and I pull my truck up as close to the curb as I can hoping to squeeze by. No luck. I need another foot. If only the lady driving the Town Car would inch up and decrease the gap from the truck in front of her from a full car-length to say 7/8’s of a car length. I flash my lights a few times to try to get her attention. I suspect she thinks I might be attempting to car jack her, so she maintains her position. I know this is a long light so I consider for a brief moment putting my truck in park and exiting my vehicle to walk up and discuss the matter with her, but of course, I can also see myself getting shot for cause at an intersection less than a mile from my own house, and I wouldn’t have blamed her. So I flash my lights again.
Can one not make the connection between the vehicle just inches from one’s bumper trying to get into the right hand turn lane and the fact that scooting up just a matter of a few inches would resolve the situation? The reality is, I suspect the woman was deep in conversation with the lady riding with her, and my flashing lights did nothing to cause any sort of speculation as to my desire for her to move forward.
So then I honked my horn very slightly. I hate when people honk, so I reserve my honking for only the most urgent of situations: Near misses, a shout out to talented sign holders advertising new subdivisions or wireless cell phone companies, and when of course some Lincoln Town Car is blocking my way.
I know, you think I might have garnered a dirty look or something, but the lady driving did not even blink. So I honked again, and this time with the authority of a Ford F-150 owner on his way to have his truck inspected. Technically, this was official state business if you want to get right down to it.
Again, she maintained her full car length and now, the people behind me wanting to also make the right hand turn were giving me looks like I was the cause of the back up. Some 96 year-old blue-hair actually gave me the bird through my rear view mirror like it was my fault that I couldn’t get the lady in the Town Car to scoot an inch.
You have to learn to pick your battles. If I was going straight through the intersection or if I had been behind the 96 year-old, I would have to wait for the light anyway, so I did the smart thing. I cooled my jets and checked my e-mail on the Blackberry. Until some cranky lady behind me started honking at me.
Oops. I guess the light had turned green while I was deleting spam.
Patience, lady.
This is sort of weird, I guess. How do you feel about really huge moths?
We walked out the front door on Sunday to find this specimen sitting there, perched on a brick on our front patio. Moths aren’t like butterflies in my book. A butterfly, I have no problem with delicately grabbing by closed wings and inspecting. Moths like this, though extremely interesting to look at just give me the heebie-jeebies.
What are the heebie-jeebies anyway?
I usually have at least one lunch or dinner report over the weekend, but in spite of our desire to take a drive or try out a new place, I had work commitments on both Saturday and Sunday. How do you like that? I’m fine with it. My company never asks me to do any overtime and they treat me quite well, thanks. If I need to suck it up and help out, I’m cool with it. We’ll see how my wife feels about it during the next several weeks. Yikes!
I don’t know why I thought of this, but years ago, probably 12 or 13 years ago, I had a web page called “The Jones Washateria Home Page” or something like that. In our old hood, there was this self service coin-operated laundry mat and it was connected to a convenience store. There were a few abandoned buildings, a long ago defunct strip-bar, and I think a tattoo parlor.
The really cool thing about it was, the guy who owned the place had his mother working in there. You could take your laundry in there, and instead of sitting there doing it yourself, the mother would wash, dry, fold and iron as if it was a dry cleaning place, but for a lot less.
I don’t want to say this was in a particularly seedy part of San Antonio, but let’s just say, you can certainly see seedy from there. If you waited long enough, you were sure to see some sort of weird action taking place. Drunken people or people on drugs were a common site – not to say that I am above drinking a 40 while folding towels, who amongst us is? But I never associated doing laundry with seeing people lock themselves into the unisex restroom to bathe and sleep.
Anyway, at the time I was trying to teach myself to do HTML (the code that many web pages run on) so I created this Jones Washateria Home Page and posted all sorts of pictures and stories about the things I saw. In a way, I guess this blog was an offshoot of that little project. Taking pictures of goofy things and leaving comments about them.
That washateria closed down several years ago, but I couldn’t help driving by on my way home from work today to see if there was any action. In spite of how the place looks now, it didn’t look a whole lot better back then, but at least there were windows made of plexi-glass so you could look inside the place and decided if the situation looked too dicey to go in or if it was safe enough to do some laundry.
Good times.
I got a text message from regular reader Anon E. Mouse who reported that the bridge at Grissom and Timber Path was now open for business. I suspect the city had read my Friday post and quietly dismissed any further delays. Thank you.
And here is a little celebratory drive across the bridge.
Filed under Construction, Grissom, Jones Washateria, Timber Path
Hey, I have seen some inconsiderate people park their cars like total jerks – take this guy from around Christmas – but today was really weird.
I was walking out of HEB and I saw this SUV pulled up behind a car, parked facing the wrong direction of traffic. At first I thought perhaps the person was waiting in the vehicle, but no, in fact, the vehicle was stopped, engine off, and no driver or passengers in the vehicle at all! WTF?
How do you explain this? Perhaps the driver of the SUV was purposely trying to block in the owner of the white mini-van and a crime spree was being halted. Who knows?
Feel free to leave your version of events in the comments section. Bonus points if the explanation involves la chupacabras, a noise that only your wife can hear, or the Wolf-Girl.
Our area is full of those ugly black birds called Grackles, I think. 
If you ever go to the HEB near our house around sunset, the place is just covered with them, no doubt making ugly deposits on the roofs and hoods of vehicles exiting the automatic car wash at the HEB gas station.
This evening, my wife and I ran into the What-a-Burger on Grissom and Timber Path where the new bridge is almost open. This will be nice! I only mention this since I took pictures.
Anyway, we went there because I needed to try out that Patty Melt they have been advertising. Excellent as you would expect, but with all the onions on the patty melt, I probably should have skipped the upgrade from fries to onion rings. I’ll leave it at that.
But interestingly enough, there were no Grackles at the What-a-Burger. On the other hand, let’s hope the guard cats didn’t leave any deposits on the roof or hood of this car.
Filed under Grissom, HEB, Tezel, Timber Path, Whataburger
We go to these cleaners that are located just down the street from our house in the HEB Shopping center at Cross Creek (I know; I had no idea it was called Cross Creek either). Anyway, the folks there do fairly good work and the employees are generally friendly.
I have often been concerned that every time I go in and there is this one girl behind the counter, she has a really disinterested look on her face, almost to the point of rolling her eyes that I would even come in. I’ve told my wife several times that I think I am the victim of being stereotyped as a creepy middle-aged pervert or something. I mean, why else would the one girl not be friendly, when all the other employees are so nice?
Well, we may have had a break-through today. My wife texted me that I needed to pick up some stuff from the cleaners, so I went in with receipt in hand and waited while a nicely dressed gentleman, complete with blue-tooth earpiece waited for the girl to find his pants. As he waited, he occasionally chatted with his wife or mother or someone on the phone. It was really weird, as if he he just stays connected to the person on the other end and they trade occasional comments to one another. Unlimited minutes, I guess.
So the girl finds the pants and naturally, I start to move forward so I can hand her my ticket so we can get my stuff. Just then, the man says, “Wait just a second, we better take a look at these. They’ve been lost for two weeks; no telling what may have happened.“
So I’m thinking to myself that he is going to look for stains or something, but instead he grabs the pants and holds them up to his waist. Turns out they had been sent in for alterations. He looks at the girl, then looks at me, then states, “There is no way these are 32 inches, they are way too long.” I think to myself, “What say you go try them on and I’ll just pick up my laundry.“
The man then goes into some sort of rant about how they had been lost for two weeks and now, they clearly were not altered properly and by God, he had specifically told the other person they needed to be 32 inches long. As he said all this, the girl calmly walked to another counter, grabbed a tape measure and laid the pants flat on the counter. She then asked him how many inches he wanted the pants altered and he responded, “32 inches“. She then placed the tape at the top of the inseam and measured down to the very bottom of the pants leg. 32 inches, exactly.
The man then looked at her and laughed, saying, “What is this, a joke?” He then went on to tell her that you always measure from the top waistband of the pants down to the bottom of the leg. He even looked at me as if to get some encouragement.
I try not to get involved in these things, but I just looked at him and said, “Have you ever heard the term, inseam?” He looked at me like I was choosing sides or something and then started to babble on about how every fine clothing place he had ever been to, they measured the inseam from the outside pants leg starting at the top of the waist. So again I could not help myself and I said, “Okay, you know that there is about 12 inches from the waist to the bottom of your crotch, and they cut exactly 32 inches from there. If they cut 32 inches from the waist, that would put your cuffs just below your knees. Can you say Capri’s?“
The guy then muttered something into his blue-tooth device, and I suspect that was all the conversation he wanted from me. He then grabbed his pants and walked out saying that he would deal with the manager.
And with that, the girl at the counter suddenly smiled. And when she rolled her eyes at me, this time, it was to signify that the other guy was nuts. And I went home and told my wife that we have had a breakthrough in the laundry situation.
Ya gotta like that.
Filed under Capri, cross creek, Culebra, Dry Cleaning Station, Grissom
silvercreek78250 