A New Set of Wheels

I have thoroughly enjoyed driving past the fields of canola again this spring. This is a relatively new crop to Robertson County and when it blooms it stays in bloom for almost three weeks. One farmer between here and Springfield is raising it. His fields have been solid yellow since late April and they practically glow in the morning sun.

JENNA’S GOT WHEELS! Yesterday we purchased a new (to us) 2003 Nissan Murano for Jenna. It’s gold in color and features the full trim package. Jenna wanted to get an SUV and this fits the bill nicely. Nate was astounded that the car was manufactured four months before he was born and said, “It looks practically brand new!” And since you’re probably wondering, the car does have 145,000 miles on it. It’s CARFAX report was clean and showed regular maintenance.  Given everything available within our budget this was by far the best car, and we were even able to purchase a 5 year/100,000 mile power train warranty in that budget. Vicki is so envious she has threatened to take the Murano and make Jenna drive the van.

As of tomorrow my days of putting the kids on the bus are over. I told Jenna that next fall they’ll need to stop by Kenny’s and line up walnuts for Alice to run over in the bus for old time’s sake.

A WOMAN OBSESSED. A side benefit to getting the car is that I get my wife back and Vicki gets her life back. I’ll have to give Vicki all the credit for the car shopping and she has been a woman obsessed (or should I say possessed?). When we looked at our family schedule for the next several months we knew Jenna would need a car to fulfill all the obligations she plans to take on this summer as we would not be able to get her everywhere she would need to be. We also knew that given my work schedule and Vicki’s summer schedule if we didn’t get the car before Memorial Day we might not be able to get one before Labor Day. So, this has consumed Vicki for about two weeks now.

None of us at our house were at all surprised at how Vicki devoted herself to this task. She did this for the last two vans we bought and for my truck. Vicki has always utilized the Internet in her shopping but this time we commented what a difference a smart phone made in her search. For one thing she has gone farther afield than ever before looking at cars from Russellville, Kentucky, to Murfreesboro, Tennessee, where we purchased Jenna’s Murano. Of course, now that most car shoppers are shopping online cars don’t stay on the lot long at all so if you think it’s the car for you you’d better act fast. Then too, texting has sped up the communication with the sale people.

At any rate, now that Mom is doing well at home, even staying by herself once again, and Jenna has a car, maybe we can see normal again for a few weeks before the summer schedule hits.

GOODBYE MAGGIE. No, Maggie didn’t meet her end on the highway. We had to find her a new home and we sure do miss her.

Maggie has a wandering spirit and our schedule only made her a lonely dog. Maggie discovered all the houses over a half mile away at the intersection of the highway and Roy Cole Road. One of our neighbors there has a large building where kids come for batting and pitching lessons. Once Maggie found all the kids there willing to give her some attention she would hardly stay home during the day, though she knew to be home for supper. She’d leave even if we were outside doing things in the yard. The only thing I found that would keep her home was a cable hooked to her collar and she really worked to chew through that. In the end we knew we needed to find Maggie a new home.

To make a long story short, last weekend we took her to Alice Keith’s sister where they have a lonely dog, Betty, in a large, fenced backyard. The two dogs seem to have hit it off so they have become her new family. I miss her and every time I walk out the door I think, “Maggie, why couldn’t you have been a home body?”

PURPLE MARTINS. A few weeks ago purple martins came up in conversation around the house and Nate started asking about them. I recalled a time when I mowed the field beside the house several years ago and that I really enjoyed watching the martins as they flew all around catching bugs. Nate was fascinated.

We have some martins that have made their home in the red house and one evening when Nate and I came home three of them were flying all around the back yard. Again, Nate was fascinated, but I had to laugh because he kept ducking when the birds flew near. I finally persuaded him to stand perfectly still out in the open and just watch the birds. He said, “What if they hit me?” and I assured him they were much better pilots than that. Fifteen minutes later he came in full of excitement talking about how close the birds would get as he stood there--quite literally within inches as they flew by at full speed.

A TRIBUTE IN STARCH. Mom and I were looking through pictures in a drawer when we ran across a snapshot I have wanted to locate for years. Aunt Mar used to wash and starch her kitchen curtains a couple of times a year. I would poke fun at her saying that they were stiff enough to stand up on their own. I even mentioned this in my eulogy at her funeral.

Well, one time when Aunt Mar had washed the curtains I helped her put the curtain rods back in and then stood the curtains up in the kitchen floor to see if my claim were true. And now I have found my photographic evidence that those curtains really would stand up on their own and even hold the curtain rod up in the air!

Joe