Woman in the Middle

While I didn’t really love turning the big 5-0 on my last birthday, having two daughters in their early 20s does remind me on a daily basis what it is like to be that age and I have no desire to go back. Here is why:

1. Living at home with Mom and Dad (even if Mom is wonderful me!).

2. Trying to find the right guy, which means kissing a lot of frogs.

3. That special hell that is studying for and taking college midterms and finals.

4.That other special hell that is writing college papers.

5. Never never never enough money.

6. Trying to find a job, including the part-time job while in college or the real job once you’ve graduated.

7. Worrying about what life will be bringing.

Of course, each phase of life has its own special and crazy aspects. Right now I am in that “worrying about my young adult children and my retirement at the same time” phase. But it is still better than midterms and finals!

We have been informed, my neighbors and I, that the Asian citrus psyllid has arrived in our neck of the woods (or desert, actually) and that isn’t a good thing. This small bug from, you guessed it, Asia, can carry a disease that kills citrus trees. While that would be devastating for the citrus industry it doesn’t really make us home owners very happy either. In inland Southern California a house without a citrus tree…is just weird. We all have them. The concept of buying a lemon is so foreign to me that when we moved into our new house that didn’t have a lemon tree (it did have an orange tree) I promptly went out and bought one. It now has baby lemons and in the fall all will be right and sour in my world again.

Some times it can be a little hard to get people in our area to come out for meetings. It isn’t unusual for only six or so people to show up for the Planning Commission hearings. Last night was a community open house to give us information on the plans to eradicate our psyllid friend and people came out of the woodwork. I told Hubby that if you want a turnout, threaten people’s citrus trees. The powers that be will soon be coming onto my property and spraying my citrus trees. I am OK with that. The dog needs another reason to bark and I need my lemons and oranges.

From the California Department of Agriculture

I was just minding my own business last night, watching an episode of CSI New York from the TiVo with my Hubby when Eldest Daughter came home, plopped down, and opened up her lap top (of course). Then, out of the blue, she informed us that we are living in a really bad spot when the zombie apocalypse hits. I paused CSI New York and asked how she knew this. It seems she was looking our home up on a web site called “Map of the Dead:Zombie Survival Map.” (mapofthendead.com)   Well, of course she was! To think, I woke up this morning thinking I live in Southern California but now I knew I actually live in a place where the undead are gong to have a field day when they decide to take over the world! Kids-you gotta love ‘em!

I checked out the map and sure enough, I live in a pink area, which means it is highly populated and thus just where the zombies want to be. By the way, the web site appears to have something to do with a multiplayer game having to do with ….zombies! I decided to put this warm and fuzzy family moment into the “things I didn’t expect when I had kids column.” There are lots of things in that column.

If I have a bad dream tonight I know who to blame!

So, did your family happen to have a casual conversation last night about a zombie apocalypse? Yeah, I didn’t think so.

Friday and Saturday summer was here and flip-flops were the footwear of choice. Of course, Saturday was the day Hubby was able to pick up a load of mulch that we had to spread across and around the yard. It was a sweaty time! Sunday the weather was cooler and it was lovely, a beautiful spring day. Yesterday I was in long pants and socks, huddled in my warm fuzzy jacket. Winter had returned! Just another four days and three seasons in Southern California!!!!

My handy Hubby just hung a large framed print over the couch in our living room last night. I am so excited! I am excited because, after two years, I finally found something to hang over that couch! But I am also excited because in our old house, the one we lived in for 22 years, the only place for the couch was backing up to the front door area and so there was no wall behind it to hang a picture. For 22 years this was just weird. I grew up in houses that always had a  large framed piece of artwork hanging over the couch. So it is so nice to have the stars and planets and artwork aligned again and to have something hanging over our couch! Heck, it is nice to have walls to hang things on!

Now that growing season is upon us, even if the only thing growing is grass and weeds, I have begun to hear a sound that has become familiar over the last two years we have lived in this house. It is the sound of the golf course lawn mower….in the dark.  Yes, since the golf course has entered their busy season they mow before sunrise. I bet you didn’t know lawn mowers had headlights, did you? I have to say that it is a bit annoying to wake up at 5 am to hear the steady hum/whine/buzz of the riding lawn mower. Guess it is the price we pay to get all those free golf balls in our yard!

I know I have positively brilliant readers who can tell, just by the title of this post, that I will not be talking about lollipops and puppies. However, if you didn’t really look at the title of this post, consider yourself forewarned.

On Saturday I came home from the store to find a vulture circling over my house. Yep, as I drove up my street there was a very big bird making slow lazy circles in the sky over the place I call home, the dwelling that is supposed to be a place of refuge and protection for my family. Somehow, I did not find the sight of that bird circling my home and family comforting. As I reached my house I saw that Youngest Daughter had just arrived home from college as well, because she had a friend’s wedding to attend Saturday.

I pulled into the driveway and she walked up to my car and said “There is a dead snake in the street.” Sure enough, I turned my head and there it was, just outside my driveway. Yuck! I had probably run over it leaving or coming. I hope I was not the one that caused its demise but at least it explained the vulture. I wouldn’t have to start checking on the family pets!  I went in and broke the news to Eldest Daughter, who is a great snake lover for unknown reasons. I then contemplated the removal of said dead snake. It was obviously our problem since it was on our side of the street. I didn’t want to keep seeing it and running over it. I thought about what I was going to have to promise my husband to get him to remove said dead snake…..

An hour or two later I came out to run another errand and mentioned to Hubby that I hated to back out of the driveway as I was sure to run over the snake again.  He said no worries as a couple of crows had moved it to the other side of the street. I looked up and sure enough, that snake had crossed the entire street with the help of those crows. No longer our problem! Yes!

Really, when driving down my street, “wildlife area” would not be the first words to come to your mind. I guess looks can be deceiving!

Growing up I always thought my last name was rather unique, After all,  there was only one other person listed in the phone book in our decent sized town with same last name as my family.  She was a real estate agent so we saw her name occasionally on a for sale sign and I always got a kick out of that. Also, no one seemed to be able to pronounce our last name, and they certainly means its unique, right? When the internet took off I found out that it was MADE for genealogy research and found this cool website where you could track your surname through time on a map of the United States. I discovered that the last name I always thought was so unique was a little more common in other parts of the country, especially in the southeast.

I got away from genealogy research, concentrating my time more on local history research instead. Recently I signed up for a new site called Genealogy Bank which has, among other things, old newspapers from all over the country, scanned in and searchable. For a local history buff like me that site is golden!!! It has really helped me with my new local history book and I have filled in many gaps in the knowledge of our area’s history. A few days ago I was down to the wire to get my new book done which means I was down to the most boring bits, proof reading and formatting mainly. Yuk! So, in a moment of boredom I went to Genealogy Bank and put my Dad’s name in. So much for uniqueness! Their was his name, same middle initial and everything, along with a picture, but it wasn’t my Dad! That was pretty funny, seeing this unknown man with my Dad’s name under the photo!

So, I was wondering, do any of you out there known anyone with my “unique” maiden name – Jarrell?

In the spring the birds go crazy around here. There is the normal craziness of nest-building and courting and singing their little hearts out. But there is also something else, something I call “road crazy.”

In the spring birds in my neck of the woods hang out in the road. They are usually doing something like hopping around, pecking at something interesting, flopping around in a puddle, etc…. Then a car comes along. I always thought birds knew to get out-of-the-way of a large moving object and, with their little wings, had more ability than most animals to move to safety. Well, I thought that until the day a bird was on the road and I slowed a bit to give it time to get to safety and it didn’t. Yes, even very small birds make thumping noises when they hit a car. Yuck!

Now I treat birds like any other animal in the middle of the road, except, unlike squirrels who have some sence of self-preservation, the birds seem to know that I am being careful. I had to come to a full stop yesterday to let a bird get out of the road. There was no one behind me thank goodness, or they would have thought I was nuts. But they probably never ran into a bird before….

I am going to save you the hassle of perusing on-line news websites and let you know what I found when poking around last night.

Frozen Cows

Snowshoers hoping to use a cabin at Corundrum Hot Springs in Colorado instead found the cabin contained six dead frozen cows and a whole lot of cow manure. Apparently the deceased were escapees from a nearby herd of cows who wandered into the cabin for shelter but were too dumb to be able to get back out. The remote location is giving the Forrest Service headaches as to how to deal with the dead cows.  Since there is no road to the cabin the Forest Service is reluctant to send a wheeled vehicle in. A helicopter is probably too expensive. The cows, and several others that were outside the cabin can’t be left there because they will foul the spring. Other options include blowing up the carcasses or burning the cabin and its contents. Holy cow, what a mess!

A ‘Bama Oops!

The $30,000 Waterford crystal football on the top of Alabama’s championship trophy is now in pieces after the father of one of the team members caught his foot on a rug where the trophy was standing causing it to tumble over and smash into bits. How embarrassing! Sounds like something I would do!

Fake Book, Anyone?

Amazon has a bit of a problem with knock off books, it seems. The most popular book on the site right now is “Fifty Shades of Grey.” But you can also get a book called “Thirty-Five Shades of Grey.” You can likewise buy “I am the Girl with the Dragon Tatoo” and a book called “Twilight New Moon.” It seems these knock off authors are trying to lure buyers who think they are buying the real thing.

U.S. Likes a Salt Lick

A new study found that fast food in the United Sates is saltier than the exact same fast food in other countries. For example, U.S. Chicken McNuggets have 2 1/2 times more salt than the McNuggets in the UK. We already know that Americans are sugar fiends, so I guess the U.S. like things both sweeter AND saltier than the rest of the world.

Taxes were due two days later this year but that doesn’t make it any more fun or enjoyable. Hubby was sitting at the computer last night, checking the last few boxes on the tax forms before sending them in and decided to amuse himself by throwing random questions at me, inspired by what he was seeing on the tax forms in from of him.

Hubby: “Did we get any false imprisonment compensation?”

Me: “That would explain that check we got in July.”

Eldest Daughter: “Dad, you know Mom doesn’t like to talk about her false imprisonment.”

Hubby: “How about an Ottoman-Turkish Empire Settlement payment?”

Me: “You know I don’t like to talk about my Ottoman-Turkish Empire years.”

Eldest: “Yeah, Dad!

Hubby: “How about crime hotline rewards?”

Me: “I REALLY don’t like to talk about my crime hotline rewards! Can we watch TV now?”

What can I say. The family has to find humor where ever we can during tax season!!!!

On Friday night, in the midst of intermittent downpours, Hubby got home from work and we immediately hopped in the car to go to San Diego to visit friends. If you have been keeping up with my blog lately you will shake your head over WHY we went to San Diego. You see, our friends D and G were having a garage sale to get rid of the last of  the stuff from his mom’s place after she passed away. I obviously have an odd attraction to hanging out at garage sales so we went down to help them with the sale. It was my third garage sale in four weeks. Whoo Hoo!

I am happy to report that the sale went very well and they got rid of a lot of stuff!. Of course, prices were set to make the stuff go away. It amazing how much stuff will leave the premises if you only ask a dime for it or if you just give it away!   It also helped that it was the community wide garage sale day, even though it was cold and windy and still a bit rainy. In case anyone in the So Cal area is interested, Scripps Ranch in the northern San Diego area has this community wide garage sale once a year in April. You can get some great stuff. When the kids were little I used to go down to find clothes and toys for them. And normally it isn’t cold, windy, and rainy on Scripps Ranch yard sale day.

Meanwhile, we got a lot of good visiting in, our friends were wonderful hosts as usual, Hubby got a nice nap in a recliner on Saturday afternoon, and my friend and I snuck in a little shopping. Lovely!