A Day in History

Today is a significant day in history - my history at least. Last year it was 18 years, today is 19 years.

Whenever April 26 comes around I can't help but to think about what would have happened if we would have stayed. Then I think about all the things that have happened because we didn't stay.

Would my dad have had the opportunity to be around as long as he was? Or would his time have been cut short by a third party for the most absurd reasons?

Would Pablo have had the opportunity to find and follow his vocation?

Would I have had the opportunity to meet my love and accomplish everything we have accomplished together?

I don't know any of the answers. All I know is that as painful as it was - and as painful as it is to relive the moments we lived back in April of 1991 - it was all for good. For the good of the whole family as well as the good of each individual. I am thankful for it.

Poor Strawberry Man

I was looking through an ad earlier this afternoon and came across this:

Is it just me that finds it odd that there's strawberry drink in one of those jugs (in case you can't tell, there are strawberries floating at the top) and the Strawberry Man is saying "Yum!"?

Poor guy - if he only new...

Today's Project

Today's project was the herb garden. We planted the baby sage plants straight on the ground and the baby basils on containers.

We used the dirt that came from digging the holes for the sages to level out the area where the basil containers sit.

Baby sage - soon it will be just as big as the thyme in the back.

Today also involved weed wacking, spraying the lawn for bugs, spraying around the house for bugs, pulling weeds and killing fire ants (and taking a nap on the couch at the 4 o'clock hour)

Just Have To

[DISCLAIMER: IF YOU HAVE A WEAK STOMACH GO AHEAD AND MOVE ON TO READING SOMETHING ELSE]

Today a bird pooped on my shoulder:

It was the weirdest feeling I have felt. I was walking around the yard (watering the new trees... for more information on this read the previous post) and I felt a rain drop on my shoulder.

Unconsciously I wiped it off with my other hand (thinking it was rain... I guess... the fact that there's a big blue sky up above my head and the possibility of "the drop" being rain is -10% did not factor in).

As soon as I wiped it off (partially, as you can see above) it immediately clicked that "the drop" was not rain at all...

I've always heard that when a bird poops on you is a sign of good luck... is it really? We'll wait and see.

Slowly but Surely

We are going on our fifth year living in this house, as well as our fifth year of being amateur gardeners. Pretty much everything we know about gardening we owe it the wonderful fact of being a homeowner and having to take care of the yard ourselves.

Yesterday Norm and I worked on the yard just about all day and since I've been thinking (deeply) about how far we've come since we first moved in... We are now planting deer resistant plants (deer don't like lantanas, they don't like gardenias either). We are diligently spraying the anti-dog spray on the flowers on the porch, as well as the throw-up-smelling spray for anti deer (on the hydrangeas). We're putting hair clippings on these too to keep the deer away (these are the sort of things you learn when you live out in the boonies).

We have overcome the weeds (for the most part) as well as the moss stuff that grows on the front hill. Our yard is slowly turning green.

Norm "rescued" a Maple tree from the woods area, he planted a fig and a dogwood tree... We have an herb garden with an established rosemary bush, a lavender bush, thyme, parsley and we're about to add sage and basil.

Trial and error have been (and still are) our best teachers and because of them we appreciate what we have today even more. We are learning so much and loving every minute of it!

Scary Seconds

This afternoon, on my way home, I witnessed an accident. It was a very scary happening.

I was stopped on a two-lane road waiting to make a left turn (yes, I did have my blinker on - this is a tricky intersection and I clearly remember making the conscious decision to turn on my left blinker).

I glance at my rear view mirror and see a Nissan SUV hauling butt. The car is going so fast that for a split second my heart skips a beat because I was positive my car was going to be rear ended. While I am trying to wake up my reflexes and figure out if I should keep straight and not turn, I realize the SUV goes off the shoulder and around me - dirt everywhere.

SUV manages to get back on the road in front of me but then looses control and rolls about 3 times down the middle of the road (literally on the yellow line). The side hits, the top hits, the other side hits, and on and on. Meanwhile I stay stopped (with my blinker on) and I watch. Finally the SUV rolls off the road onto the shoulder/ditch.

Time stood still - nobody moved. No doors opened, no cars moved. Maybe 5 seconds went by, or maybe 5 minutes - I don't know. After however long had passed, I called 911.

"Hello, I just witnessed a car accident"
"Are you ok?"
"Yes, I am ok"
"Are others injured?"
at that point I notice that not only has the Nissan manage to wreck itself, there is a bright orange Camaro that is also wrecked.

We wrap up the call (crazy thing? there is no record on my cell phone register of my calling 911... weird, uh?) and then I get out of my car and walk over to the orange Camaro. The driver was a middle aged woman who wasn't hurt. She was crying, trying to call someone. As I'm keeping her company she shares that she had only been driving her car for 1 month - she had it custom ordered and waited on it for 8 months... I don't like Camaros, but this car really was pretty. It was bright orange with a black stripe. The interior was all orange and black leather - super fancy.

Across the street is the Nissan SUV - a young boy (maybe 18?) has gotten out of it and is holding his arm. This is the scene:

Might have to enlarge the picture to notice, but a flat of bottled water is all busted. He's managed to flatten the street post (yellow sign on the ground)

Boy wasn't hurt - well, he was hurt a little bit - but he could've been dead.

I hang around and give the cop my report. I was still a little nervous from having seen all this to the point were I was having a hard time writing my report. Is "stopped" with 1 "p" or 2 "p"s? Is it "rearview mirror" or is it "rear view mirror"? I couldn't concentrate.

Then I had a thought - we all have seen those funny website and those funny emails with police reports that are hilarious - they don't make sense, they have grammatical errors, information reads silly out of context. Well, now I know why those reports are the way they are - I can understand those witnesses (they are still funny though! I hope my grammatically incorrect report never makes it to the internet...)