Nature Songs ~~~~

AUGUST, 2000

~ continued ~

August 14,2000 - A day of decisions.
A day of priorities. First things first. No Quest4Life. First, I have to call the Ford Dealership in Morganton where I purchased my Explorer. I was in hopes that things could be done over the phone without the trip over there. Not so! They said there was too much paper work to do it over the phone. I have to wonder about that. It is a thirty minute drive over there. There was a thirty minutes or more wait, and what did it require of me? About four seconds for them to pull up the information on the computer. (I didn’t even have to tell them my name.) In the end, they call me out: “Stormy, you do have the tires that are on recall.” (I had told them that.) “We have put your name on the waiting list and when the tires come in, we will give you a call.” Then came the drive back to Lenoir from Morganton. Duh???? What part of that could not have been done over the phone? Mostly, my having to climb those steep metal steps to reach the waiting room to wait my turn.

I am fortunate to have children with a sense of humor. At times I take things at face value as I see them. Sometimes, in that vast assortment of information I have stored within my brain, I fail to take time to file everything just so. Such was my information on the tires on the Explorer. The information I received by email from the Ford Company told how to check the tires for the needed information.. I told Wes how to go about finding the needed facts. There was a DOT number on the back of the tire that identified the company from which the tires came. I assumed he would have to look for a series of dots and then compare them to the company that made them. Not so. How was I to remember that DOT meant Department Of Transportation? The capital letters didn’t ring a bell with me.

It was not to be after all. Months and months of working, weeding, choosing by the chosen committee, going over the fifty applications for the position, all done for nil. There were seventeen that did not agree with the nominating committee. That was enough for the offer to accept coming to the church to be denied. The whole process will have to do done again. Looks like there will be a search for even more pastors until that one is the chosen one. Will there be one anytime soon? Should those in disagreement be the ones to seek and choose? Will the committee we now have agree to continue the search? They have devoted many, many hours over the past months. They may decide they are not the ones to seek further. They have to feel sad and defeated at this point.

August 15,2000 - Lingered at Quest this morning for a cooking class we signed up for several weeks ago. We watched, shared and learned as a low-fat banana bread was prepared. Our muffins to try were already in the oven cooking when the class began, so we also got to smell the aroma coming from the hot oven. I learned some interesting facts along the way and had my memory jogged on other facts. Some future classes are being planned. Now to put the recipes to good use at home.

I have thoughts of things I would like to write about. These are things that come to memory while I am out traveling around the roads sometimes. I might be busy doing something here at home. I could be talking with others, or just sitting and thinking. When I get the laptop out and begin to type, the words and thoughts are often quite different from things I intended addressing. Journaling triggers more thinking for me and inward searching, however, it does not mean I will record all of those thoughts for looking back in years to come.

I was sad today. I was sad for our cooking class instructor. I hurt for her. I wanted to say, “Hey, I’ve been there.” But it was not the time. It was time to say how sorry I felt for her and that I will be praying for her and her family. Later will come the time that I will be able to share a little with her of being alone to raise children by myself.

Five weeks ago, they learned that her husband has advanced liver cancer. He is only 48 years old. They have two teenage children. One will graduate this school year from high school. He probably will not live to see her graduate. I do know some of her pain. My husband was 41 years old when he died. I had four children. The oldest one was fourteen. They were the ones that brought me through the first few years of being alone. Today, she wanted to know that we were thinking of her and the situation her family is facing. She has much yet to face.

August 16,2000 - I was asked if I was depressed today. I am quiet. I am less than energetic. I am disenchanted with the way some things seem to be going. Perhaps, the truth would not be depression, yet I have had better days. I would love to see some changes taking place in my daily lifestyle. Somewhere deep inside I need to find the courage and strength to change things around me. Too much of the days are slipping by with nothing to show for all that spent time. There is no excitement for doing this or that. There is no real need that anything be accomplished. The Land of Limbo holds no challenge for me to conquer.

I sleep in my own special way of catnapping through a night. I exercise in an effort to get my body in better shape. Mother is to the point that she now expects to see me daily at her humble abode. All the rest of the time is up for grabs. Much of that time ends up resting and getting ready to do things that end up not getting done. The online classes do not hold the excitement of some of those in the past. Spanish needs someone to practice with. So far no one has shown much interest in the things that I am doing now.

Maybe tomorrow will be better.

August 17,2000 - Another day of not accomplishing much more than I’ve done for most of the summer. The washer is still not draining well. I had to soak up water from the floor the last time I used it. That discourages me from catching up with the clothes and laundry. I broke down and asked Lady to take time and work in the kitchen this evening. It looks usable now. Maybe I’ll fix some fresh vegetables from the garden. The keepers of the garden are gone for ten days and asked me to see that the okra and tomatoes and other veggies are kept collected so they will continue to bear until fall. Allan also mentioned bringing some green beans down from his garden. Then again, I don’t care to cook only for myself....

There is a baby rabbit on my carport this evening. It has hidden itself under the grass clippings in the bottom of a crate. As Allan was mowing the field this afternoon, he ran over a rabbit’s nest. Two of the baby rabbits were killed. This one seems to be fine, but we were concerned about leaving it alone. I know that they are left at an early age by their mother, so I wonder if it would still be close around. I’ll probably feed it for a few days and let it roam the garden and edge of the field in hopes that the rest of the rabbit family will help it out. With all our years of living here and cutting the field, this is the first time a rabbit’s nest has been uncovered. It makes me wonder if we are getting an overabundance of rabbits and squirrels here since there is so much road work going on in the neighborhood.

Mother has to do without her remote for the television for a while. I bought new batteries for it, but that was not the problem. I’ve got a feeling that it was dropped again. The last time Wes worked on it, there was a broken piece inside and it was superglued back in place. I may have to search around again for the address and phone number and order a new one for her since they are not sold in local stores. Her’s is a combination television and video and takes a special remote to control its actions.

August 18,2000 - Little Mr. Hoppity Hop seems to be doing okay. He has made himself a nice little nest in the middle of the crate of grass. He is skiddish and shy. Sounds like Wendy will come by and take him home to care for him until he grows a little larger. Right now he fits into my hand with some room to spare. That is if you can keep him from hopping. Once this morning he jumped straight up and around so fast you couldn’t see him turn. He landed with his head facing the opposite direction. Maybe he did a flip.

I dragged in a few minutes late for the water session this morning. No, the baby rabbit didn’t have any thing to do with how slow I happened to be moving. We had the slow movements to music this morning which takes up the hour and makes the time pass so quickly. The vote is in. We ladies like to have music as we workout. We like to do different types of things. The mornings we mostly walk are not our most popular times in the water together.

Ms. Jay had other objectives to take care of this morning and missed out on the water exercises. She surprised me later in the day by bringing by some of the goodies she collected from the garden. A few tomatoes and two yellow squash was about all I would use, so she took the rest home - fried okra for supper, squash, tomatoes, cucumber, zucchini squash with some to spare for freezing for use in the winter. There’s more out there to get even yet. She only got about half of the garden today.

The dogwood tree outside my bedroom window has already set blooms for next summer. The tree is covered with the tiny new buds at the ends of the many limbs. It also is showing signs of taking on some fall coloring. Leaves are turning red and orange on some of the limbs. A few of the berries are beginning to turn red.

After considering all the options this evening, we decided that Mr. Hoppity Hop was in good shape and that his Mom could care for him much better than any of us humans. We spotted her out at the far end of the garden fighting off the crows from the two little ones that didn’t make it. We were sure she would be there for him and took him out close to where she was and turned him loose. As soon as he got a whiff of her trail, he disappeared into the thicket where you could hear some sounds of them moving around. Maybe I will see them out around the garden some later.

August 19,2000 - BingoKid spent the night with me. He enjoys spending time with me and doing things along side me. Mother called to say that she was hungry. He had not had supper, so we picked up a pizza and took it over to the nursing center and shared it with Mother. She ate three pieces. He ate three pieces. I ate two. The pizza was finished off in short order.

This morning, Wes came over to drive me to Charlotte to pick up some filters for the Spa. He called the Ford place before we left to see what the status on the new tires was. There are still twenty on the list ahead of me and hundreds after. They are changing tires as fast as they can and are hardly making a dent in the number of tires having to be turned in for replacement. Strangely enough, the Firestone store here in Caldwell County is referring all the people to the Ford places. They are not trading any tires at this point in time. (Wes says looking back now, it’s sort of scary that we drove on those tires to New Jersey. Guess we have been very fortunate compared to those that had accidents.)

We had a good trip to Charlotte. The weather was perfect. The traffic wasn’t too bad and Wes, BingoKid and I had a good time together. There was a lot of evidence of the bad weather that moved through the area last night. There were a lot of broken trees and limbs in Gaston County and Charlotte. Leaves and trash was still on the roadways, too. Many people were without power following the storms that passed through. Here at home, there was only some rain; no storms.

I decided not to go into the store to buy the filters. We got a drive-through lunch at Wendy’s. It wasn’t until we got back home that I realized how stiff I had become. I should have had some exercise during the time we were gone. I can’t say that I speeded up any throughout the rest of the day, either. I fully intended to spend a little time with Mother, but I never made it back outside the house today. Allan brought by a bucket of beans to string and break. I will do them tomorrow. I took one of the tomatoes he brought and made me a ‘mater sandwich for supper. One think slice of it filled the bread. Boy, was it good! I’ll fix another slice tomorrow.

Charlie just gave me the best laugh I’ve had in a while. I heard a noise in the other room and wondered what he was into. He doesn’t hem-haw around when he wants something. He brought his water bowl into the bedroom, plopped it down on the floor and proceeded to paw the bottom of the dish to let me know he was out of water. Oreo was right beside him, but was only watching. However, Oreo was the first to start drinking water once I had filled the bowl for them. I’m sure they have been drinking more than usual today. They had water earlier today, so it hasn’t been out for long. Now Charlie has given me a juicy, cold kiss on the arm and curled up beside me to sleep for the night. All’s well.

August 20,2000 - Breakfast at McD’s this morning before church. More people with children were there than usual. Some were stopping by on their way to church. Others seemed to be some families meeting together, perhaps before some of them left from a visit. My aunt confided that she will be leaving for the beach the middle of the week. She hasn’t been down to her place since April and is looking forward to her own trip.

We discussed my trailer setting out in the backyard. She would like to buy it and use it at the lake for when she has visitors and needs extra room. There are some repairs that need to be done to it. For years we used it as Mother’s special room. It still has many of her craft supplies and other collected valuables and clothes and lots and lots of stuff packed inside its walls. The biggest hurdle would be emptying out all the things inside. I have no idea what to do with much of the things collected there. I could donate yarns and craft things to places that use them. Then, too, there is the need to replace the tires if it is to be moved.

After church I made a trip by the grocery store and gas station. Those are not things that I am used to associating with Sunday, but it is becoming a common rendezvous. Gas prices here are around $1.35 a gallon. In Hickory, I can buy it for $1.29 a gallon. It’s worth the time and effort to stop when I’m down in that vicinity to fill up the gas tank. I also stopped yesterday and got some on the way to Charlotte. We used a half tank on our trek to Charlotte and back. The stop at the grocery store was a brief one since I didn’t need very much. Of course, when I got home I remembered that the two kings of the house are out of their favorite dog food. They will just have to endure eating the bag of food that is less than appetizing to them. Who knows! They may learn to enjoy it.

My “DO Not Disturb” sign was posted for the afternoon. I yawned all morning long. I yawned so much, I was kidded about whether I would be able to drive home without dropping off to sleep. How was I to let anyone know why I was less than awake? I just happened to be using the computer sort of late. (Just as I’m doing tonight.) Between writing some and playing some of the games and glancing at the television off and on, it was 3 a.m. before I realized I was still wide awake. It happened to be one of those nights that my brain chose to spin around wide open when it should have been in “save mode.” I zonked out for a while this afternoon, and then headed over to visit with Mother since I sort of didn’t make it over to see her yesterday. I meant to go over to spend a little time with her, but I didn’t make it out the door after returning from Charlotte.

Big brother and his wife came in with watermelon for Mother while I was there. We got to visit with each other for a while and compare aches and pains of our respective back problems. Anyone that happened to be around when we watch television together, would wonder about us and our sanity. Going back to the very beginning of television we have always had this thing about finding all the things wrong with programs and stuff. It’s interesting to watch different shots of a program and notice something that may be changed.

This time there was a special on about an accident on a construction site near a large mall. A main gas line was broken and a huge fire ensued. Several different people were interviewed. The persons doing the interviewing were talking about the Concord Mall and pronouncing Concord as if pronouncing conquered. Anyone that has grown up and lived in this area knows that is not the way to say that name. You pronounce it “Con” and “cord” - each syllable sounds the same. No emphasis is placed on one syllable more than the other. That opened up a whole new conversation on words. We had a good visit together.

Meanwhile, back at the house, there was this five gallon bucket of beans waiting to be strung and broken. Whoa! Did I say this is a Sunday? A day when one is to rest and go to church! Well, I did rest and I did go to church, I just had all these other things tacked on to the day as well.

Getting ready to work on the beans, I break a glass. I thought I got up all the pieces of glass, but one tiny triangle of glass chose to find its way into my foot later in the evening. The glass came out, but the foot bled all over the floor while I was trying to get a Band-Aid for it. Getting a Band-Aid on the outside of the heel was a challenge in itself. But, that’s another story.

I read the Sunday papers before putting them to use catching water from the washer. Allan offered to call a plumber to come and run a new line for the washer, but I felt I had spent enough money for this month on getting the Explorer fixed. It didn’t run out as much, so maybe when I put Drano down the kitchen sink the other day, I opened up the line a little for the washer. I’ll try another load of clothes tomorrow and see what happens. My water lines are forty years old. Perhaps it is time to replace some of them with this newfangled plastic pipes. Then again, maybe I should consider moving into one of those senior retirement places that takes care of little problems of housekeeping and such, leaving me time for more serious things to take care of such as travel and visiting.

Here it is after 1 a.m., and I’m doing a repeat of last night. Wonder how much I’ll sleep and rest tonight....

~ continued ~ page four