Another foggy and cool morning in paradise. The temps will continue to warm up but we will have another cool spot soon. Of course when I saw warm up, it is 80 degrees that I am talking about.
I recently learned what an ADU is. ADU, accessory dwelling unit usually placed on a single family residence lot.. Why not just say shed, storage shed or she/he shed or like people prone to hyperbole, a barn. Even though I call these things Snake Dwellings, Roy is trying to negotiate with me getting a shed for garden tools. The only reasonable spot would be in the front yard but it wouldn't be seen from the road. We have a big portion of our yard covered by those extraordinarily high fir trees between Josh and us. It could go there or over in the corner where honeysuckle and morning glory vines are consuming a fence. Probably not a good place since it would be in the path of our rain divergence plan and could be washed away and Josh would think we gave him a new ADU, shed or barn. So in the spirit of not drawing snakes to a shed, I got a lot of stuff cleaned out of the garage and off to the Habitat for Humanity thrift store. While getting that stuff out, I also rearranged the winter sleeping places for the kitties. It also affords an easier access to Christmas decorations.
Another thing I learned last year while gardening, gray t-shirts do not draw bees or wasps. Brightly colored t-shirts do and it is rather distracting to the work when bees and especially wasps are buzzing about.
Since I am on a learning jag this might or might not qualify, but I do not like flies, nor their offspring, nor fruit flies, nor maggots which is fly offspring, but especially hate that form. There are a variety of fly traps in the garage and we even have one of those tennis racquet fly killers. A little zap sounds signals their demise. The racquet is harder to use than one would suppose and a little bit of a blow to this former tennis player. My backhand is better on killing flies than my forehand. Opposite of those days on the courts. With cooler temps, the flies diminish a bit but it is a continual fight until the cold of winter. For fruit flies, besides using the cute traps, I read that spraying Wondercide kills them. Wondercide is an essential oil blend and it really works for spraying pets, yards and porches. Comes in four different scents.
I treated myself yesterday to a quick trip through the Hobby Lobby that just opened. Going in, a lady who was heading in herself said to me, the new toy store is open. She qualified by saying, for us, it's a toy store. Well, for those so gifted but I told her I was there to see if I can pick up any talent through osmosis.
*********************
We had another conversation about getting a shed and that conversation got me into action. The corner of the garage with all the haphazardly thrown shovels, rakes and hoes with a couple of trimmers and a chainsaw thrown in got rearranged and cleaned out. Have a couple of tools to take to Habitat next week. I took a pic and sent it and I think Roy was rather pleased with the end result. Shed purchase averted for now.
After taking care of the corner, I pulled up more sunflowers. The birds have pretty much gotten all the seeds. This week after learning that it is safe for the birds once again to fill feeders, got all the feeders filled up. The favorite two are the ones that hang in the pear tree. The last section of sunflowers are blooming now. This is the first year planting them in week increments. The two snowball plants, well I thought they were snow ball plants, are hydrangeas. They are planted near the fence behind and to the side of the hemlock tree.
Since I was out working and then made my Exxon, CVS and TJs trips, I missed watching the LSU game. They won, so that's good. To my surprise the Baylor game was on here so that was fun, then nerve wrenching and then fun again. Flipped between that game and the Arkansas/Aggie game. I'll not comment because of many Aggie friends, but Arkansas looks good. Seems like LSU is trapped in the past. So many comment about the 2019 team but you cannot move forward if you're looking back most of the time and in comparison.
Driving while old...yep, it's a thing and I am close to the point of not listening to music when I drive. Half the time I don't because I crave and need lots of silence. And if and when I am going to go over the speed limit it is usually because I'm singing with a song on the radio. Even driving a Mustang convertible, I drive the speed limit, except when singing. You could question any driver behind me cause they are not pleased that I don't use my car for the need for speed. I like the convertible cause I can park it and I can take in all of the seasonal beauty here. It soon will be three years and that Christmas music singing debacle in Woodfin will be off my record. I know that on 25 it goes from 55 to 45 rather quickly and I am keen on keeping within the law. But yesterday, I think I skimmed over into the 45 going more like the former speed. I had just begun to slow down when I saw the state trooper on the side of the road and I braked... I looked back, he wasn't following me. Got a break, made the turn to get to the river road but the thought of the trooper stayed with me. My habit because it is such a beautiful drive is not even to drive the speed limit, but under it. So to my surprise on a glance in the rear view mirror, there was the trooper. He stayed back at an observation distance. I did not take a drink of Diet Coke, I did not change the radio station, and I did not make a phone call, because all of that is distracted driving and a cause to be stopped. We came to the bridge and I hoped he would go on. Turned on the blinker, made the turn and so did he. Up to the next turn and again, used my signal to indicate a turn and he turned with me. As I came close to our road, again indicated a turn and fully thought he would be making the turn as well and I debated how I would back in to my drive as per usual without him thinking I was making a "move." I turned and he gunned his engine and continued down the main road. I was shaken up and once I opened the garage door, I stayed out on the driveway in case he came back. Fed the cats, placed my decorative gourds by the gate, and then fed the birds. I had called Roy to tell him what happened and he said I should have called 911 to make sure it was really a trooper. He had heard stories of late, women being followed by someone who had a vehicle that looked like law enforcement, just to be stopped to rob them. Of course, I had the top down on the car, so phone conversation is difficult and it would have been a distracted driver issue as well and I knew the officer was legit. I am mad at myself for drifting into the lower speed zone and probably the trooper followed to make sure if it was a slight mistake or a habit. Mistake...for sure cause I was singing with a song from my young adult years. Or, he could have just been going my way, but it sure didn't feel like it. Believe me, I am thankful for the grace I received yesterday, but I did have a slight afib moment over it and my goal in this season of life is no afib. Years ago, in another Mustang Convertible, Dena and I were pulled over in a Chicky parking lot by a mall cop. I think he thought he had two teenagers making an illegal turn within the parking lot. You know Chicky, their drive throughs while fast yo go through are somewhat tricky to navigate. He was disappointed when he realized he had stopped two middle aged women trying to get an ice tea before they closed and they closed while he talked to us. He tried to get ice teas for us but Chicky was closed for the day. I talked with one of the policemen that worked at church and asked if a mall cop could give a ticket. He laughed and then really laughed when he heard I drove a convertible and assured me mall guy could not give me a ticket, only imped ice teas. My last convertible adventure is one from long ago. Peggy had a Mustang convertible. We would raid her costume closet of blond wigs with big floppy southern belle kind of hats. Then we would drive around. Guys would be behind us and drive up next to us and get the shock of a lifetime as we made goofy faces and waved at them. Ah, good times.
And to think I had done all these errands wearing my dressy muck boots, a denim lined with flannel shirt over a tshirt and a visor trying to hide the fact I had dirty, unwashed hair.
No comments:
Post a Comment