Sick and sicker.....I realized I was sick last week when I went home at 2 p.m. to take a nap (one advantage of growing old is you no longer have to make excuses for napping), and woke up at 9:30 the next morning.

As I told you a couple of weeks ago, I’ve started working mostly full time. I think it’s made me sick.

I thought I could fight it off although everyone kept urging me to go see Dr. Bush. On my last leg, I finally made an appointment but on my way out of the door to go to the appointment, I got a call from a friend who reminded me I was speaking to the Rotarians in one hour. (I had been too sick to check my calendar.)

Sure enough, I was scheduled to give a little talk and I thought I was going to die. “I know,” I thought, “I’ll arrive at Sweetwater Country club in an ambulance and get some EMTs to take me in on a stretcher. I can give my talk prone on the stretcher in a weakened voice.”

But I rallied, caulked my face, ruffled my hair and soldiered on. I actually felt better once I got there, but I’m not sure how stellar my performance was. I was in a very weakened condition and heard later that I hadn’t said anything bad about, and had even complimented....some politicians. I must have been sicker than I thought.

I do those things-- talking to groups, attending galas, serving on committees--for public relations. It doesn’t help my case when I pick a fuss with the very group I’m talking to. At one point, the person who invited me said, “Better change the subject, Bev.”

I left right before the tar and feather group.

Me and QVC.....When I made it to the doctor, she said I had walking pneumonia. “Whew,” I thought. “I guess that means it’s okay for me to walk.”

I did wind up FOB (flat on my back).

During my enforced period in bed (who am I kidding. I couldn’t move) I accidently had the television on during some “paid programming.” At one point in time, I woke up and they were talking about some type of blender called a “Magic Bullet.” I was too sick to search for the remote to change the channel so had to lie there and watch the whole thing. Not to ruin any future surprise presents for my mean kids, I bought one. A credit card is never far from my fingers.

It was so much fun, I ended up buying several more things. I gotta get well. My credit cards are about maxed out.

Local stuff.....I’ve received several inquiries about Missouri City’s purchase of the Quail Valley Country Club.

Disclaimer: I own a house in Quail Valley that is not on the golf course, just to let you know where I’m coming from.

For someone like me, who owns a house in Quail Valley but not on the course, it would be a boon--to have a huge public park right at my doorstep. People in all parts of Quail Valley, including across Cartwright in Quail Valley North and Meadowcreek subdivisions, and the subdivisions along FM 2234 would benefit from the proximity of a public park.

And the reason I talk about it like it’s a done deal is this, what else is the city going to do? A large commercial/recreational concern in the heart of the city is going broke because they paid an inflated price for it to begin with. My theory is that the buyers all worked for the company they bought it from and they knew they were paying too much, but that is just my opinion.

I’ve heard the company has discussed the possibility of developing the golf course into multi-use housing which conjures up the most dreaded word in Missouri City, a word the city has taken great pains to never hear--APARTMENTS.

If the city refuses to change the zoning and the company goes broke and the land sits there, unkept, for several years, the prices of the over five thousand homes in Quail Valley alone and surrounding subdivisions would collapse. The city would be in a mess as real estate values plummet and the city has to increase taxes because they have to raise the same money with less assessment just to stay afloat. Whew! Hope you followed that.

It doesn’t take a mathematical genius to figure that raising the taxes a little now to buy the country club is a much less bitter pill to swallow.

Fund notes......To put some rumors to rest--the Quail Valley Fund, which encompasses about 2,000 homes in Quail Valley, does not have enough money to buy the country club. It has, according to manager Cecil Willis, a little over half a million cash on hand for the rest of the year, $1.143 million in CDs (saved for a building when the lease runs out on its present location), $298,261 still owed from this year and $44,430 still owed from other years.

So the almost $2 million that Quail Valley Fund has amassed through good stewardship and frugal spending over the years, is hardly enough to buy the country club. However, the Fund is looking for a building....

I fear that the money the city has to spend on Quail Valley might decrease the funds available for the other parks in the city.

Now if we weren’t in Metro, that half cent in sales tax we collect for them each year would go a long way toward paying for a large public park which could easily be a break-even or even money-making economic proposition anyway.

I’ve known many of the people on the city council in Missouri City for many years, and although I may not agree with some actions they take, I can assure my readers that most of them would never do anything that would harm the city. They would never embarrass themselves that way. I can also assure that anything the city does on this topic will be done transparently and with full disclosure at every step. I don’t even have to threaten them. So, I think the city is smart to step in and at least explore the possibility of making sure such a community resource as the golf course remain an economic attraction.

Cut and run.....I don’t usually discuss national things in my column cause I can just barely keep up with what’s going on locally, but Halliburton does have a local office in Sugar Land. I think moving their corporate headquarters to the UAR is pretty chicken----.

Let’s see now. Their ex-president ran for vice-president from Wyoming, even though he really lived in Texas, got elected, then put us in a war that greatly benefited his (wink, wink) ex-company. When the American public finally woke up to it and the jig was up, they announced a move out of the country to avoid paying, I am sure, U.S. taxes on their filthy lucre.

Ever wonder where Chaney hides out half the time? Ever wonder why we don’t see Chaney much (unless it’s to a $1,000 bucks a plate dinner where he knows he’s with his own kind and safe?