Bickel & Co.

04/29/2026

Thank you, Misty for making this Lonestar Market another huge success 

10/26/2024

05/07/2024

Remember 1st of April 2024. Great wheat crop before hail storms, calves on lots of green grass & partly cloudy to keep away 110 degree days!
Look out June, July, August & September are a day closer!

05/07/2024

Things to remember about 1st of April 2024. Wheat crop looks great before hail storms, green grass pastures with calves & partly cloudy sky’s that keeps the 110 degrees away! June, July, August & September are a day closer.

05/03/2024

Well it happened again last nite, started small hail & every now & then walnut size to golf ball. Cked this morning sure nuff it hailed snails again. They started surrounding our pup to suck that blood out of her! However I saved her! Luckily they move at a snails pace.

04/29/2024

Todays update on the rain Sunday morning. I took these pictures yesterday morning. I thought I was hearing rain drops or hail but evidently it was snails falling from the sky! The lone snail is on a playground slide, evidently they like to play too.

04/29/2024

What’s on my mind? I can’t figure out after a major drought & 110-115 degree summer days where in the world these come from. The best I can tell it’s Helix & 3 Stripped snails & every time we get a rain 100’s of them show up around our house, garage & the yard. Also some type of mushroom is growing in our fence when it rains. I’m thinking as long as we get a little rain we can survive the high $ groceries by boycotting the grocery store & by eating escargot with mushrooms. However I haven’t discussed that with the CEO yet.
My next ? is the snails leave a slimy trail much like a v***r trail of a jet. Ones very slow & ones very fast so which trail last the longest? I think the snail but I’m not sure so I’ll observe & report the results to google. Now that I think about the slimy trail I’m not sure about eating the escargot, may just starve to death! However they should slide down the throat easy with out the shell.

04/24/2024

What’s on your mind? Mines very simple, not complicated at all.
Last week we heard the doorbell ring and two ladies were waiting patiently for us to respond. Jackie, the mom and Meredith, the daughter, had a cousin that lived in our house over 40 yrs ago & asked if we knew June (the cousin). Jackie remembered the house. Since I lived in Ballinger beginning in 1967 I knew June. Seems that Jackie is 92 & June is older. I said yes that I knew June & they asked if I could take them to her house. Since I’ve lived in Ballinger since 1967 I said ”of course I can take you to her house”. The advantage or disadvantage of living in a small town! I told them to follow me in my pickup & we arrived at June’s house. I went to the door & rang the doorbell. There was June looking at me with a big questionable expression on her face. I said hello and told her that Jackie & Meredith came a long way to see her. There were hugs & tears & joy. As I drove away I couldn’t help to feel excited for them & the reunion after 40 yrs plus. Seems like as I looked in the mirror their might have been a little tear in an eye of the guy looking back at me.
Oh yea did I mention that I’ve lived off & on in Ballinger since 1967.

04/16/2024

Speaking of Plano. We also stopped at Costco in Plano & it never is an easy task to get in the door without risking your life walking to the entrance. 100’s maybe 1,000’s of cars. 4 Persons per car times 1,000 cars = 4,000 people. That’s bigger than Ballinger’s population. It’s so big inside that I always take binoculars so I can read the isle numbers & other directions in the store. There were so many nationalities & humans that I thought I was in New York City. Got my binocs out but didn’t see the Empire State bldg so remembered I was in Plano. After obtaining our goods from the crowded isles (had to turn around & back track on one isle cause we couldn’t get across the isle) we figured out why we couldn’t cross the isle. The isle had two lines going to the check out. I looked again thur the Binocs & saw a sign at the other end,
Self Check. So we got in a line. After moving very slowly & people watching got to self ck out & Costco employee yelled at me that I was not in the Self ck out line. I told him he should have told me that an hour ago & 100 yards back! No Costco in Alaska & no ck out lines!

04/16/2024

That would be a 5 star rating for Piefalootin!

04/16/2024

Seems like a lot of people are mad & it doesn’t seem to matter where you go. However speaking of Dallas, actually Garland, we went to a happy place called Piefalootin owned my Tracy Dowd. The two times we went there was a line & everyone was courteous, friendly & pretty much happy. Probably the reason it has a 5 star ratting. Not a 4.75 rating, no a 5 star rating! It’s 238 miles from Ballinger to Piefalootin & worth every mile to get her pies. Staff is exceptional. We have had several kinds of pies & can’t say what our favorite is yet but are still trying to find it. Look up CultureMap March 11, 2019 to find out more. If not for the pie just go to see HAPPY PEOPLE!