Day of Anticipation

We're getting ready to go to the lake today. Don't get extremely jealous, but they're predicting thunderstorms. We love to be at the lake during thunderstorms. It is just incredible.

We just bought a used paddle boat and I'm just excited all in all about every dang thing. I have a few grasses and plants to take along that I got free via Cathy's many gardening connections--and I've been trying to replace window treatments from hell that need attention. So, though I go intending to totally relax, I do have tasks in mind. These are some plants I've never tried before, so I'm eager to see what they do:)

It's an inherited thing. Dad (Chuck) always had a list of things to do--even carried 3x5 cards in his pocket to add ideas as they hit him. I remember coming back from vacation once because Dad planned to paint the porch on his vacation. It's a sickness. I do get stuff done, though.

I saw a wise saying at a garage sale yesterday. It said "Don't confuse having a "to do" list with having a life. I will keep that in mind--after I finish my tasks!

Spring--When the Swallows Return to the Parking Garage

I was aiming to post only every two weeks because, well, I have nothing to say !! BUT, for two months I have been fretting about the fate of my favorite part of spring in Omaha: when the swallows return to the parking garage. The facilities drones had put up soft mesh "screens" around practically every orifice of the garage to keep out the devil swallows that they say build nests on the pipes and corrode them. I say "get more durable pipes!!"

The joyous news is that the swallows don't need all of the orifices, they only needed the entrance that we walk through (can't close that), and they are building their nests like maniacs. Probably a dozen or so, they are too charming chattering away in their tuxedoes and swooping in and out, in and out. The mesh nets are falling into ruins because repairmen are working on the garage and messing up the nets. All that worrying was for nothing. I just couldn't help it, though. They really are my favorite part of spring.

Me Happy

My friend said to me the other day, “don’t you wish you could be a kid again?” It got me thinking that anyone who feels that way was blessed with a happy childhood. Yes, it was great to be the center of the universe for a time. It stirred up all these feelings of gratitude to my parents for struggling to make us feel safe and loved and free, yet somewhat controlled and responsible and connected at the same time.

Then, even without caffeine, my brain continued on this trend thinking about the blessings that came to me when I met Dave, who allowed me to make all my own choices (sometimes I didn’t even want to) and sat back calmly whether I excelled or loafed. It’s called freedom, and even in this land of the free, too many people are oppressed.

This leads to the love our children give back to us. It is beautiful and overwhelming at the same time. It feels a bit like a circle but it is really more like a coil that circles round yet continues on and on. I think that is the happily ever after part.

Sometimes I feel so naïve when I come up with these moments of awareness and then I think I am a dang moron because everyone else realized this stuff at age 20. And that’s what just keeps my life so interesting. Every moment I’m coming closer to catching up with everyone else.

Fever Pace

Work is becoming increasingly crazy with each day as we approach finals week (next week). This is the time when, almost without fail, our copy machine decides to crap out. And that's what happened today, although it is still copying. It just won't staple things until a new part arrives. Now that only means that we have to staple all the final exams MANUALLY, but because I am so very seasoned, I recall when we not only had to staple manually, we also had to collate everything one dang sheet at a time. It's a leap backwards to a slower-paced world. Believe me, I appreciate the superior machines and all the work that they save me, but . . .

It reminds me a little of when the power goes out and everyone sits around the candles for a bit waiting for the power to return. Then the conversations start, and then things get creative and about the time you begin roasting marshmallows over the candles, the lights come on. It's a little disappointing, truly.

I don't expect to get all "into" stapling, but there's probably a mantra for stapling, donchathink?

Lame Ramblings

Yes, this is going to be lame. I am tired and feeling rather boring. I just felt bad about neglecting the blog (like I need something else to tend). Grumble, grumble. And I thought it might get me back in the groove if I just mutter aimlessly here and hope to have something real to say next time. So do any of you kids know why ALL of the keys are sticking on the keyboard. It couldn't have anything to do with all the racket down here one of the nights that Joe visited, could it????

Good news! Just when I feared that we would run out of weddings (there have been about 5 or 6 in the past year that Joe and Rachel came back to attend--one more scheduled in September), I find out that Tony Vaccaro is getting married in November!!! If we can just keep this up, we'll be seeing Joe and Rachel more than if they lived here. :)) Me happy.

Someone tell me how to sign this, please.

Mama

The Henney-mobile

I think that when I was in High School my parents must have stayed home a lot, because I got to drive the family car quite a bit. In fact, I used it so often that my friends called our vehicle the Henney-mobile. I actually think mom and dad were pleased that it got used so often to transport huge numbers of high school buddies around the city of Madison, WI. My friends and I were mostly athletes and cheerleaders, so we would pile in the Henney-mobile and go off to games, meets, matches,... If we were paricipating, of course, we would be bussed by the school, but we also went to other high school's events or events for sports that we weren't involved in.

One of the reasons the Henney-mobile was so popular was that it was a full-size 1965 Dodge van and I could carry a lot of kids. We once got 22 guys and gals into the van on one of our excursions.

You know what, though, there are disadvantages to having a popular vehicle. A small group of us used to do "commando raids." Started off with toilet-papering trees and houses, and then we would get a little more creative. We once saw a friend's little Corvair parked at his girlfriend's house. So, we picked up his car and moved it so the front wheels were resting on his girlfriend's front porch and the car was facing toward the front door. Then we rang the doorbell.

So, the problem was that many people in the neighborhood recognized the Henney-mobile and it was difficult to get away with stealthy exploits while driving the Henney-mobile. We put a cherry-bomb in a kid's mailbox once and blew it up. When we came back around to inspect the damage, the guy and his dad saw us and the kid recognized us immediately. Resulted in a late-night visit from the police department. My dad was of course not happy with my actions, but he also said that I should have known better than to use that van and expect to get away unnoticed.

A Beaver Creek Proposal

Joe's proposal to Rachel seemed so romantic, sunset in the middle of Sparks Lake while on a camping trip and all. It struck a familiar chord for me as my proposal to Barb also was offered on a camping trip. In a canoe in the middle of the lake? Well no, in my 4WD GMC pickup truck as we drove to Beaver Creek, CO for a weekend campout with our good friends, the Greisers.

Barb will surely expand upon what remains in my often abbreviated memory, but as I recall the proposal went something like this, "so, you wanna get married?" "Well, OK." Its a good thing I have other attributes that Barb finds appealing, because romance and recollection of those events where I have attempted it are certainly not what I am noted for.

There are hundereds of Beaver Creeks in the USA, and more than one in Colorado, but this was one of our favorite places and became even more so after the proposal. It is a 4-wheeling, fishing, camping, and wild kind of place centered in the Colorado Rockies:We got to Beaver Creek and pulled off the road. I locked in the 4WD, but Mike's pickup was 2WD, so he "aired down" the tires to give him better traction and off we went bushwhacking. We didn't go very far off the road, but I can't remember seeing another vehicle or person all weekend.

My littered memory otherwise remembers two other things about this weekend (maybe Barb will return from tennis soon and add some other more meaningful memories):

• we made a cobbler of some sort over an open fire, but it was more than we could eat, so I covered the creation and stored it in the bed of the pickup, where it later cast itself onto the sides of the bed as we negotiated the 4WD roads on the way out; (Barb sez "picture bright red cherry cobbler strewn over the snow covered truckbed")


• we slept in a tiny little green backpacking tent and were totally surprised when we awoke the next morning with over a foot of snow engulfing most of the tent.

Okay, Barb here, to add my 2 cents worth! I am always looking for basic luxuries (?) when camping, and I recall Dave and Mike promptly building us a latrine--a sturdy branch secured to a couple of trees we could sit on in the woods to take care of business :) A fine, fine work of art. It was hardly used before the big snow came and we thought we should at least get to a road before the weather became more severe.

I was ecstatic about the snow (except when we woke up with the tent smashed on our faces). The tent was a little two person tent and we were cozy in there with Olga and Rocky, our dogs. Greisers brought their cats, Big Foot and Sam.

When we were in a more secure spot (knowing we could get out), we stopped and made some little snowmen. It was something I missed from Nebraska--having enough good snow to build a snowman.