Nothing Quite Like It

There's nothing like getting ready for work in the morning and having the power go out...in the shower. Thankfully I hadn't gotten my hair wet yet, but it is very upsetting to be in there, naked, and here a big BOOM and then no lights, no A/C. There's that split second "Oh No!" moment, and then you think: "that was just a transformer, right? Not the electrical box exploding or anything like that - right?" Because if it IS your electrical box or something large and metal that just dropped off a jet in your backyard and NOT a transformer, then you have to plan your escape carefully. Well, it was, in fact a transformer, so then I had to race around the house and grab my stuff so that I could put my make-up on and fix my bed hair at work. Oh, did I mention that I had TWO funerals yesterday? So I'm leaving and as I'm driving down the back alley I see my neighbor on the corner is outside in his truck and he is walking towards me, the universal sign of "stop, roll down your window and have a neighborly chat". Well, stink! Here I am with no makeup, grubby hair, and here is my neighbor who reminds me of Robert Mitchum. You know, he's got those old- Hollywood looks (he really does look like Mitchum) and his wife is a perfect match for him - two timeless Hollywood-types slumming it in Kansas. At least I had my big celebrity-style sunglasses on to hide most of my unmade face. So I stop and roll down my window and he tells me he can't get into his garage. He smiles his charming crooked smile and then proceeds to become even more charming by saying that he had been sitting there clicking his garage remote and alternately banging it on the dash for something like 3 minutes, thinking his remote was bad before he went inside and found out there wasn't any power. I just totally lost it! So funny! And then his lovely wife comes out through the back gate and stage-whispers to me "he's such a dork!" and she gives him a sweet pat on the face. I felt like I had just landed in an old black and white movie...awwww!

So the rest of the day was a bit of a blur: two funerals and then I cut out of work a bit early in order to go register the boys in school; Thing 1 in High School and Thing 2 in 5th grade. Next year my baby will be in Middle School! Yikes! Am I ready for all of this? No. But I am ready to do battle over the high school class schedule. Back in the Spring we had to choose electives and type of science, social studies, & history, etc. Well, They make you choose second and third choices, and really there weren't a lot of options so you try to choose something not too awful. We didn't have a full course catalog apparently because we couldn't find info on some of the classes, but the most important thing was Art. My middle boy, like my oldest and my brother can draw and I want to see it developed. Art was not on his schedule and I was a little put out, so I will be contacting the school Monday to see about changing it. The principal was there at enrollment and as he went over it with me saw that there was already something wrong with it and when I told him about how important the Art class was to us, he told us we definitely needed to speak with the counselors and get it corrected. I'm hoping he can get in because it was the one thing he was really excited about that helped to balance out the anxiety over starting High School.

And speaking of school, I just found out two weeks ago that I am about to graduate. Back up - I just found out two weeks ago? That's kind of like saying "I don't know nuthin"...so anyhoo, two weeks ago I found out that I am two classes away from graduating - about the first part of October. I've been stewing over it since then and have come to the conclusion that I have mixed feelings about it. I'm kind of excited, but anxious too, and maybe a little sad? Although I haven't had much time for, well, anything, since I started this journey, I have enjoyed it. Then my counselor told me in September we can talk about enrolling for my Bachelor's. So now I'm thinking about that. 

So, while I stew that over a bit more, I leave you with a little visitor I found hanging out in my mint plant. I have found out that he is a stink bug - not the kind I'm used to which are more oval, black, and walk around with their rear in the air if you so much as look at them - but an Asian type native to China, Korea, Japan and Taiwan (according to Google). Well, I'd say these little guys, who also come in bright green, have adapted really well and now call North America home - and probably have for a very long time.

Sticky Songs and Laundry Debris

Yesterday morning on my way to work, I spotted an assortment of undergarments lying in the road at various points - some panties, then about a block after that, something like a tank top, then a little further on, one black sock. maybe someone's laundry basket in the back of a pickup got bounced? I dunno, but then on the way home I saw several of those colorful plastic balls like are in children's ball pits all down the street, like a McDonald's Playland exploded. I'm pretty sure this was due to the storm that blew through right around 4pm and seemed to go on all night long. At one point on the drive home, the truck was getting pelted with hail. I prayed the whole way home: "Lord, please let me get the truck home before it gets any bigger, and please keep my plants safe, mainly my herb garden because they are delicate, and are lucky to be alive anyway." Big thank you when I got home, because it quit hailing and all my plants survived that storm and the really big one that slammed us around 1am. I'd hate for them to survive me and then get taken out by a storm. Kind of like walking away from a plane crash and getting killed by a rabid squirrel three days later. Okay, so that's a little disproportionate, but you get the idea.

On the way to work today, there was a lot of debris in the road from limbs, trashcans and whatnot, but no underwear. At one intersection there were huge chunks of shredded tree scattered everywhere. The lightning was pretty bad last night, so maybe a tree took a direct hit. At any rate, the drive to work has been like an obstacle course over the last two days. And I guess we aren't done: according to the weather forecasts, there is more in store for us - woohoo!

Have you ever had a song stuck in your head for days? I do it all the time, and usually it is some commercial jingle. Like that McDonald's one where the guy is driving and drinking coffee and singing "I'm Electrified..."? Ugh - I had that one in my head for-ev-er! Right now I have Pharrel's "Happy" stuck in my head. But it's a good thing - I like that song! It could be much worse - it could be "The Girl From Ipanema"...

...and somebody somewhere just went "whaaat??" 

Elusive Hummingbird

It's been a busy week here in my dusty corner of Kansas. My middle son turned fourteen this week and I'm still reeling from the shock of that. It just doesn't seem possible. At all. :\

We took the boys to Joplin Friday afternoon  to have dinner and do birthday shopping and Saturday we painted the house. Yay - It's almost the same color all the way around now! Sunday is always a busy day with church and youth services and trying to get stuff ready for the coming work week in between all of that, not to mention any homework assignments due. (More about that another time.)

There has been a wee little hummingbird hanging around the pink lilies (for lack of the proper name) in the back yard, but every time I try to catch him with the camera, he disappears. It's not like I have to get right up on him either because I have that nifty telephoto that I got a while back for my Canon. It's like he's psychic or something. I started bringing the camera with me when I take the dogs out first thing in the morning - not an easy task - but he flits away and I got nothin'. I usually see him in the morning when it's cool, and the late afternoons or evenings when the heat backs off, so it's a short window of time. I have a hummingbird feeder, but I have never seen any around it. I think they are not fooled by it at all and these hummingbirds in our neighborhood are more refined than other hummingbirds. They have standards, and artificial nectar just doesn't cut it with them. It could be something like that - who really knows what goes on in a hummingbird's mind, anyway? But then again it's probably because it's too close to the house...

This little guy is tiny, though. I've never seen one so small before. One summer in California when my oldest son was just about 5 or 6, a hummingbird was lying on the front walk at my parents' house in the shade. His little body was heaving and he was listless, so immediately I went inside and grabbed my mom because she knew everything of course, and she would know what to do. She did. She said he was dehydrated and went inside and mixed up some sugar water and placed it in a red margarine lid and placed it near him and soon he was up and flying again. 

Looks like I will have to get more creative if I want to try to get a photo of my little friend. I think I need to move the feeder to a more strategic location also. I really do think it is probably too close to the house, but the main reason I did that was to discourage cats. So until I get a photo of my teeny tiny friend, here is one of a strange little insect on my dad's roses. I have no idea what this little guy is, but he is definitely colorful.

And there is a photo of said "pink lilies". They do appear to be some kind of lily and they are, in fact, pink, so...pink lilies they are and shall always be as far as I am concerned.