August 2009 Archives

I'm going to share something with you that I found in my e-mail today. I don't know who David McClure is, but this is his senior moment:

"David McClure of McKinney: A senior moment ... at 48?

David McClure teaches science and coaches at Faubion Middle School in McKinney. He is also a Teacher Voices volunteer columnist.

$5.37. That's what the kid behind the counter at Taco Bueno said to me. I dug into my pocket and pulled out some lint and two dimes and something that used to be a Jolly Rancher. Having already handed the kid a five-spot, I started to head back out to the truck to grab some change when the kid with the Emo hairdo said the harshest thing anyone has ever said to me. He said, "It's OK. I'll just give you the senior citizen discount."

I turned to see who he was talking to and then heard the sound of change hitting the counter in front of me. "Only $4.68" he said cheerfully. I stood there stupefied. I am 48, not even 50 yet a mere child! Senior citizen?

I took my burrito and walked out to the truck wondering what was wrong with Emo. Was he blind? As I sat in the truck, my blood began to boil. Old? Me?

I'll show him, I thought. I opened the door and headed back inside. I strode to the counter, and there he was waiting with a smile.

Before I could say a word, he held up something and jingled it in front of me, like I could be that easily distracted! What am I now? A toddler?

"Dude! Can't get too far without your car keys, eh?" I stared with utter disdain at the keys. I began to rationalize in my mind. "Leaving keys behind hardly makes a man elderly! It could happen to anyone!"

I turned and headed back to the truck. I slipped the key into the ignition, but it wouldn't turn. What now? I checked my keys and tried another. Still nothing. That's when I noticed the purple beads hanging from my rearview mirror. I had no purple beads hanging from my rearview mirror.

Then, a few other objects came into focus. The car seat in the back seat. Happy Meal toys spread all over the floorboard. A partially eaten doughnut on the dashboard.

Faster than you can say ginkgo biloba, I flew out of the alien vehicle. Moments later I was speeding out of the parking lot, relieved to finally be leaving this nightmarish stop in my life. That is when I felt it, deep in the bowels of my stomach: hunger! My stomach growled and churned, and I reached to grab my burrito, only it was nowhere to be found.

I swung the truck around, gathered my courage, and strode back into the restaurant one final time. There Emo stood, draped in youth and black nail polish. All I could think was, "What is the world coming to?" All I could say was, "Did I leave my food and drink in here?" At this point I was ready to ask a Boy Scout to help me back to my vehicle, and then go straight home and apply for Social Security benefits.

Emo had no clue. I walked back out to the truck, and suddenly a young lad came up and tugged on my jeans to get my attention. He was holding up a drink and a bag. His mother explained, "I think you left this in my truck by mistake." I took the food and drink from the little boy and sheepishly apologized.

She offered these kind words: "It's OK. My grandfather does stuff like this all the time."

All of this is to explain how I got a ticket doing 85 in a 40. Yes, I was racing some punk kid in a Toyota Prius. And no, I told the officer, I'm not too old to be driving this fast.

As I walked in the front door, my wife met me halfway down the hall. I handed her a bag of cold food and a $300 speeding ticket. I promptly sat in my rocking chair and covered up my legs with a blanky.

The good news was I had successfully found my way home."

I'd say I have a LOT of company on this issue! lol

I was just doing the same everyday things, but it seemed this weekend that things went very smoothly. I accomplished more, and with each little thing crossed off that mental list, I felt a growing sense of satisfaction. I still have have tons of things that need to be finished, but I got some of them out of the way, and that's a start.

I have an ironing basket that I've been ignoring. Bandannas, white antique pillowcases with embroidery or tatting or crocheted edgings, colorful everyday cotton dinner napkins, and white formal dinner napkins, a red tablecloth, the dress for a pillowcase doll that had been washed......things that have accumulated through the spring and early summer. I got about half of that done.

I have three more seams to do, and I will have finished a double bed sized scrap quilt. I pulled out three other quilts that are ready to be quilted to get their sizes and make sure I have the backing and battings for them. I have a project to finish for my sister, and one for my youngest granddaughter. I have a set of six place mats and a table runner to complete. I'm getting closer to getting things finished, now that I have enough space. The bookshelves I ordered should arrive this week!

I went out early this morning to prune in the herb garden. The scent was heavenly. Everything I brushed or clipped gave off it's special perfume. I used the string trimmer to edge around the yard and the herb garden, and even tried to hack back some of the weeds in the west yard. It was good timing, because a storm came through this afternoon. I could hear the plants saying, "Ahhhh!"

I spent a large part of the day working in the office. I decided to get my filing done. Lack of order has a negative impact on my work habits, so it was time to do something about the disorder in the office. I filed for the company, I filed for Elegante Mother, and I filed our personal papers! Then, I balanced the company checkbook, typed two proposals, and entered accounts payable. I was flying! I was able to leave things for Dear Husband to look over and sign, and I walked out of the office with a sense of accomplishment.

Don't you love those days when things have gone smoothly? I treated us to roasted garlic, baked feta, and browned baguettes of French bread, and we noshed before we worked on dinner. I hope this week will continue to go as well as the weekend has.

I had one of those senior moments yesterday. I was on my way to run errands. I had to stop at my local kitchen equipment store to pick up a special order before they put it out for sale to others. I had to make a deposit for Elegante Mother, and several for our company. I needed to visit the Post Office to get a letter off to a friend in Scotland, I had to pick up toner and copy paper for the company, and then stop to do some grocery shopping.

I was on the overpass heading east when I something caught my attention and I thought, "I need to blog about that!" I could hear the opening lines, and it was something that was worthy of my soapbox. I didn't write it down. I can't remember what the heck it was. I DO remember thinking that Roberta would have made a fine entry on it, and you all would have had an opinion.

It's really too bad that I simply can't remember just what it was that caught my attention. I hope that's my only senior moment for this weekend.

In so many ways, the title of my blog has hit home over the past ten days. As many of you know, my Dear Husband is an avid sailor. He has a 32-foot sail boat moored in one of Chicago's harbors and between May 15 and October 15 he spends as much time on the boat as possible. I do not do well on small boats. I tend to put my foot on the deck, and turn green. A moment later, I'm checking out the path to the head, or hanging on to the side of the boat as I heave. I just wasn't meant to be on small boats. I've named my blog in honor of the boat, the "Arr!!"

The past ten days or so it seems that a black cloud has been following the captain of the Arr!! He took off for what was to be a three day weekend on the boat. He needed to stop at Crowley's to pick up a part for the diesel engine, which had developed a leak. Crowley's is clear down at the south end of Lake Michigan, near Calumet City. Shortly after picking up the part, DH stopped for a hot dog, and when he tried to start the car....nothing happened. He managed to find a towing company, and a recommendation to someone who might be able to look at the car. (Note....tow number one)

The mechanic finally got the car running, but told DH he would need to have more work done on it. DH started home. Halfway through the trip he realized the battery wasn't charging, so he left the tollroad. The idea was, that he would be more accessible if the car quit on him. Sure enough....it did. He called and had it towed to our preferred mechanics. (Note....tow number two)

I needed to use our car on Saturday morning, to meet my sister and Mother at the Farmer's Market and then go on to lunch. Dear Husband joined us. I thought he might take my car to go to the lake on Saturday afternoon, but he chose to be a couch potato, and let a storm front move through. The mechanics called Saturday afternoon to say the car was ready to go.

Sunday morning, early, I drove DH to pick up the car. Before we parted, I kissed him and kiddingly said..."If you have any trouble with the car or the boat, find a hotel and register.....don't call me!"

You guessed it. About two hours later he called and asked me which hotel in Westmont I wanted him to check into. He was probably twenty minutes from home. He'd stopped to pick up things for breakfast and lunch on the boat, and when he returned to the car it wouldn't start. (Note....tow number three.)

The repair guys had a go at the car and it seems to be working. I think we scared it with discussion of whether it was time to turn it in for cash, and buy a newer car that got better mileage. DH voted to wait a bit. This car has been pretty darned good, and I think if you averaged the expense of maintaining it out over the years we've had it, it's been a reasonable expense. Of course, I'll worry every time DH heads for the lake. I don't have the cost of the three attempts to repair the car, or the cost of the three tows yet. I'm pretty sure I'm not going to be a happy camper.

What I hope is the final straw in this saga came yesterday. Dear Husband came home and told me that he'd had to have the BOAT TOWED!. He was outside the harbor when his propeller became fouled with a line. He had to call a marine towing company because the swells were four feet high.....too high for another pleasure craft to risk giving him a tow. The man running the tow boat said that he keeps diving gear on the boat just to be able to clear fouls like this, but with the boat heaving up and down so much he wouldn't risk getting into the water. We could have made a house payment with the cost of this particular tow.

I'll admit that I didn't take this particular news with good grace. I probably reined in my temper when I saw the bruise on Dear Husband's arm. His left bicep is black and blue. He was hurt somehow when trying to free the anchor before the boat was towed. I'd like to take an ax to the boat's hull, and end all this business of boating, but common sense (and love for my husband) has prevailed. If he were to ask me to give up quilting, I'd be devastated. Just because I'm here in the house when I quilt, doesn't mean that I am particularly good company. I'm distracted, and want periods of uninterrupted time to work out designs and piece them together. Dear Husband helped me to care for my mother for the past 20 years, and he's earned the right to do what pleases him. I just wish that I'd never heard the definition of a boat: "A Hole in the Water into which you throw large amounts of money!".

After I've had a little time to let off steam on this, we'll be okay. Of course, I'm worried about making ends meet in this economy. I worry about retirement, which is coming MUCH faster than I like....especially in this economy. I worry about grandkid's college funds, and I worry about my husband's safety. I suppose mostly I worry about his safety. Please God....keep him safe on his travels, and ...No more tows!

To my friends who are frequent commenters:

I have tried to give you the ability to post without needing my approval, but you all know that I am technologically challenged. Either MT or my computer requires that I approve comments for some of you.

If you don't see your comment posted in a timely manner, I apologize. I've read it, in my e-mail, and enjoyed it, and then blithely gone my way, forgetting that others couldn't read what you had to say.

Thank you for posting, and for keeping in touch with me. I really value your friendship.

I adore my herb garden. It's twenty years old, and shows signs of wear and tear, but I feel incredibly fortunate to be able to work with plants that smell so wonderful, and to be able to incorporate them into a raised bed with native flowers.

The only difficulty with this garden is that we never completed the walkways. Originally, we intended to lay brick in the pathways, but we've just never gotten around to completing the chore. Each year, at least three times during the growing season, I've had to weed the walkways. The herbs, as well as weeds seem to like the ground up limestone (chat) as a growing medium. When the chat is dry, it's impossible to weed. I can't figure out how the plants can grow in it. When it's rained, the chat is a breeze to weed.

I spent about two hours, two days in a row, and this was the result:

The "after" picture looks SO nice that you can see why I want to keep those walkways clean.

Below is the "Before" picture for the other half of the job. My garden helper left some plants in the walkway two weeks ago, so it looks worse than usual, but you can see what the rains have done for the weeds and volunteers.

If we don't have rain in the next two days, I'll be watering the path so that I can rip out all the volunteers and clean things up.

We thought for a while that the Summer of Oh-9 might not ever make its appearance. It was cool into July, and blessedly rainy. It was rainy to the point that hearty Midwesterners who are used to cracked, dry clay were beginning to wonder if they were going to need to grow gills and fins. But, all good things come to an end. We have passed through the season of the pretty pinks and burgundies and pale peaches and whites, to the season of COLOR!

When it finally turns hot at Chez Buffy, Rudbeckia save the day. I have two types of rudbekia which are volunteers (thanks to the chipmunks), and a third that I've planted intentionally, called Rudbekia 'Goldsturm.' These are the plants that will carry us through August and into the season of chrysanthemums.

The plant in the picture below is the simplest of the rudbeckias. I think of it as a Black-eyed Susan. The petals are a little rounded, and it's just gold and dark brown.

This plant, with the extra ring of burgundy on the petals, seems to be the one that is everyone's favorite. It's very tall, and unless you stake it, it will drop and flop any way it pleases, usually impeding the use of the sidewalk.

And this plant is Rudbeckia 'Goldsturm.' I have six or seven of these plants scattered throughout the gardens. This is just one plant in the picture. Those that receive more water (or less heat, or more sunlight) are the biggest, but it grows under almost any adverse condition.

I have one other tall gold-flowering plant that has just been planted in the gardens near the front door. This year I bought a gold/yellow version of a purple coneflower. I may look for the "sunset" colored variety next year, to encourage the red shades in the garden.