Thursday, July 6, 2017

Re-purposed Skill and Training

The day you don't think there will be any rain...there is rain. Overcast and cloudy most of the morning, then we had a little shower and the sun came out bright as can be. I turn my back to the window and the next thing I know, thunder, which brings Buddy down the stairs lickity split. Our living room is rather dark but the rain has let up some. These little early evening showers will help to keep flowers blooming and trees green. Oops, that last little bit of lightning felt a little too close.

I was so tired from driving to and from Charlotte last night. Vivian and Bill had asked me over but as much as I love them and banana pudding, I had to take a rain check. For a moment the thought of doing some laundry made a brief appearance in my thinking but thankfully, I came to my senses and opted out of doing laundry until later.
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Awoke to a foggy morning. The alarm clock, Buddy, kept going off about every fifteen minutes. I think Buddy and Roy have a conspiracy going not to let me ever sleep in or sleep late. With knees fixed I think I could sleep like a teenager again. Well, except for the whole Buddy and Roy conspiracy thing.... I am happy for a ease into the morning kind of day. Nothing on the schedule but a trip to CVS and to Publix.

I had music going loud last night and missed Brenda's call. Vestal Goodman was belting out Looking For A City and What A Lovely Name. Brenda was stopping in at Vivian's and then she wanted to stop in here. I texted her when I heard the VM and said I'm here come on. I was working on the front porch getting more of those little clips up to install the last strand of mason jar solar lights. Think I will finish out the whole porch so I can use little Christmas lights when that season arrives. Those won't be solar though. There weren't any leftover fireworks last night either. It is refreshing not to have days on end of fireworks. When I went to workout yesterday, I saw the firework set up in the yard of a neighbor down the road. If they had been outside, I would have stopped and thanked them for the beautiful display they had on the 4th. Brenda came over and we visited for a little bit. Both of us have had, not busy schedules, but rather full days in the recent week.

We could have had a prayer meeting yesterday at the gym. Judy C and Inez were there. Judy is working with Taylor too and is seeing results like I have seen doing his workout and stretches. I need to fix my playlists on my music cause somehow I lost the ones I had when I hooked up to the new computer to download music into the phone. No biggie to do. But I really liked the order of songs on the old list.

Yesterday, something must have been going on out here. While at the Exxon station, two unmarked police cars with sirens and lights blazing went down the highway. When I made my turn toward Weaverville, I saw several sheriff patrol cars along the way. On my way home from CVS there was a sheriff right across from the Post Office. Felt very safe going in to get our junk mail.

So thankful that the Indigo Buntings were around here for Lisa P's visit. She would love watching these young cardinals around the feeder and yard. There are two sets of young un's. The younger ones frequent the front feeder and are a bit more skittish. Constant bird fights keep Buddy interested in continuing porch life. There is a Carolina Wren looking to build a nest and truthfully, those birds seem interested in being close to human life or they know a good thing when they see it. I have discouraged it from building a nest between two cushions on chairs on the back deck. We hardly use the deck because of that whole underground railroad for animals thing going on underneath it. Right now at night there seems to be a colony of frogs living under the deck. Their loud night time serenade comes in like high def surround sound in the living room, which is a bit disconcerting. Yes! Dis-concert-ing. I am so not going to write, did you see what I did there? OK, I just wrote it but as narration not as look how clever. There is a guy on Twitter that adds that so often and I would unfollow but then I must get a buzz out of seeing him write that so many times about his blog posts and articles. Yes, he truly respects his audience. But I digress...Carolina Wrens, that is what I was writing about...well, I'm done but I will say Carolina Chickadees respond really well to the bird calls on my phone. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I have become a bird nerd.

Several friends have asked me if I am going back to playing tennis with new knees in place. I can emphatically answer, NO! I would have to develop a lob game and I just can't do that after being beaten by older ladies who only do deep lobs. No fun at all! No one has asked if I would go back to playing softball and I bet there is a senior ladies team around here somewhere if I checked, but no softball doesn't interest me either. But it is good to know I still have mad throwing skills. Since becoming the Crazy Squirrel Lady of Buncombe County, part of my job, nay, duty, is to keep squirrels off the bird feeder. How come bird feeder is two words but birdbath is not? Again, I digress... So yesterday, in the rain mind you, I was so upset with this one particular squirrel, who looks at you, puts his paw over his heart and I imagine him saying, "Elizabeth, I'm Coming!" (Sandford and Son reference for any millennials reading this. Old TV show)  This squirrel is becoming quite used to all the noise I make in order to chase them home. So, I picked up one of the little apples that Roy picked off our trees, went outside and perfectly timed the throw to hit that squirrel right in his....squirrel butt. He jumped so high and ran so fast up the hill, to his home far away in the neighbor's tree. Yes, softball skills are being re-purposed into a viable mountain skill.

I'm thinking that driving SequishShawn might be good training if I ever decide to apply for a job at the Biltmore. They are hiring laundry workers right now but laundry doesn't seem to be my passion. I think it would be fun to drive a shuttle bus on the estate. Vivian sent me pics from her brother, who is the longest tenured employee on the estate, of all the bears in the upper parking lot the past few days from the early morning before the estate opens. Anyway, I would have to think of some corny jokes to tell while driving the shuttle, so maybe I should work on those.

Speaking of laundry, the machine has stopped and it is time to load clothes into the dryer.

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