250316 High Winds

This picture was taken on Christmas Eve in 2021. Joyce had an electro exam where they had to shave big circles on her head to attach the brain scanning equipment. That was days before Christmas Eve She looked terrible so she told me to bring an electric razer to shave her head.

Last night we had some 50 mph winds come through here.

They didn’t scare me; I live in an apartment that takes care of any damage that may occur.

The high winds brought back one of my fondest memories. After I retired Joyce and I started going to the casinos in Oklahoma. We went to all of them until we found our favorite one, The High Winds Casino. That was the only one we went to for a year or two until they shut down. We always won there. Once they had a raffle for a $500 gas grill. We collected tickets every trip and people who wouldn’t be there for the drawing gave us their tickets. On the night of the drawing, the casino called out the runners up for some nice prizes and when they announced the winner, you guessed it, Joyce. They loaded it up in our van and we headed for home. There was a small tube with a chain attached to the grill to hold a long fireplace match to light the grill. All the way home at every bump in the road that tube would clack against the grill and we would look at each other and giggle.

The casino also had a huge buffet once a month for players. It was the best buffet we ever saw or went to.

One of the pit bosses named Jamie was there for closing on our first trip to High Winds. The casino closed for everyone at 2 am. It was a slow night and Joyce and I were the only ones there. He was somewhat annoyed at us. He wrote in his logbook we could close now, but there’s two old people still playing cards and keeping us here. Later when he got to know us, he started writing, yeah Joyce and Bill are here! He told me that later on. It is interesting to me that every casino we were there and after that, was happy when we showed up, mainly because of Joyce. Funny thing it was always Joyce and Bill, never Bill and Joyce.
When we went to the later casinos, Joyce usually went first to the restroom after our 90 mile trip. I went straight to the card tables. The card dealers would immediately ask where’s Joyce? It was never hello Bill.

Joyce always attracted people to her no matter where we were. All our 58 years together, all of our friends weren’t there for me, it was Joyce. I was always okay with that.

During our nearly 4 years in Millington, Tennessee, we had lots of friends that came over for parties. We were living in a 12x60 foot trailer close to the naval air station and training center where I taught basic electronics. I met all the other instructors and we would have parties at our trailer home. Everyone had kids and brought them with them to the parties on weekends. Most of the time the parties lasted until sunup the next day. The kids would get tired running around the trailer and parents would put them to bed. As Joyce would say, they were stacked up like cordwood in our master bedroom. Everyone ate and drank to their hearts content with Joyce’s cuisine. Those were some of the best days of our life!

Brother Bill