It’s “Hey Rene J” Today!

Thank you, Gentle Readers, for the “back-up” advice in my plan to procure a new vehicle. I shall be entering the Publisher’s Clearinghouse Sweepstakes to secure my obviously-this-will-work attempt to win a new car or the means to acquire one. Great suggestion!

Along with entering sweepstakes and pinning hopes on a blood donation, I think I’ll send my son to contribute his red cells. He’s been very lucky in these matters of “drawings.” He won some cool backpack at a Warren Miller movie promo night, “Wicked” tickets in NYC, “Green Day” tickets here in Denver, and probably some other smaller things of which I know not. He’s my reinforcement.

It’s good to have options.

This caught my eye in the paper, mostly because I saw one of these sci-fi looking vehicles yesterday on the road – Tesla’s Cybertruck.

So what does my car say about me? Little greenish hail-dented Escape? Easy. I want to escape and fly under the radar with no one even thinking about stealing me for monetary means. And I like the color green.

However, on the First of August I shall be receiving the news that I have won a new automobile, courtesy of my pint of blood contribution. Maybe I’ll blast the stereotype of the Cybertruck by acquiring one? It does have a look that resembles how I feel when driving in traffic around here…determined to blast through it all!

Patience is required while I await my winning news.

The questionnaire for donating blood asks a million questions yet it didn’t ask me the real question today. “Why are you donating?”

Oh, I donate blood sort-of-regularly, depending on the urgency of their emails and the open slots they “might” have. I fill out the fast-track forms every time so as to keep my wait time to a minimum. So far, I have had to refile the forms every single time. It never works. Yet, hope springs eternal and I continue to give it a whirl.

I’m donating today because I’ll be entered into a contest for a free car. Since mine is hail-damaged and the insurance company wants to “total” it, I figured this would be a nice way to get a new vehicle – helping out humanity and all. I’m sure it will pan out for me the way I want, just like the pre-answering of the queries on my health.

I wonder what my new ride will be?

Yesterday I couldn’t get “ice cream” out of my head. So, I took my little charge to the local DQ for a cone right before dinner. Pure delight!

It also gave me the opportunity to educate her on the creation of the ice cream cone. Earnest Hamwi, a man making hot waffle-like delicacies at the St. Louis World’s Fair in 1904, was experiencing a downturn. The weather was boiling and people wanted ice cream. The booth next to him couldn’t keep up with washing the dishes for customers, so he folded his little creation and voila! The ice cream cone was born! Why I know this? I have no idea. I can’t remember where I took off my shoes last night, but this I have preciously devoted brain cells to for fifty years at least.

I know my granddaughter was in awe of this bit of trivia as the chocolate drips continued to trickle off her chin. Trust me – she’ll know this story by the time she’s four.

Once in awhile the Tupperware drawers become full again. Errant containers come home to roost at the same time and the lid drawer is overflowing. However, it can still be impossible to find the correct top when you need it, thus requiring an entire “testing” phase for the vessels.

This little Pinterest poke amused me as I struggle to find my yogurt receptacle. At least the drawer is getting a good cleaning again.

My sister claims to have had the last cup of coffee from the gasping for breath Keurig. The slow demise seemed to have finally ended. My brother-in-law was forced to travel to Starbucks for his morning jolt. If we were a VRBO we would have had to refund a portion of the fee. No coffee.

However, after a day of rest, I have resurrected the implement and managed to eke out a cup of coffee for my puzzle period. (I did have to use the electric urn from my mom for the bridge gathering…no way was there going to be time to make four cups of coffee that morning!) It takes longer than usual, but I can get a full cup!

There will be a new machine by the time my next guests arrive, courtesy of the now institutionalized “Amazon Prime Day.”

Morning shadows shorten, the sun rises high,
Temperatures are climbing, we are in mid-July.
The air is still, without a breeze,
Evidenced by the silenced trees.
A rabbit lolls, subdued by the heat.
The once-green meadow accepts defeat. 
At times oppressive, though it won’t last,
I’m savoring summer, it goes too fast.  

Remember that gorgeous fern my mother had in the front room of her home? It filled a spacious room with its overflowing beauty. I separated it when she passed and each sibling got a third of the monster. It was my grandmother’s fern.

My husband is slowly killing it. He continues to close the draperies in the spare bedroom where my third resides. Yes, he is doing it to keep the house cooler, but it is also a fact that plants need light for proper photosynthesis – and this plant has been slowly dropping fronds and succumbing to the lack of light. When I realized the problem I meant to say something to him – and kept forgetting. I have been making a daily excursion to that room to rectify the issue.

Since he occasionally reads my missives, I am using this forum to educate him in the art of horticulture. And of course, giving him grief. I’m sure the fern will flourish hereafter.

There is no walking outside across the lawn without shoes. Everything is so dry you’ll have thistles stabbing your toes, scratchy weeds clinging to your feet, and regular old grass working like a pumice. Bone dry in spite of watering.

Thus, I’m sure the hail-damaged ferns loved me repotting them in this stifling heat. We’ll see how hardy they are now! Hail-stricken, wind-blown and now sun-fried. I used to think working at a gardening center could be rewarding and fun. It might be? I just might not be the person to expand a gardener’s knowledge, especially with my “survival of the fittest” mentality.

We’ll see how things look in September.

So true. The local librarian in my small town loved it when my sister and I visited. She would give “Pindy” a dime to go and get her a donut from the cafe, too. I’m sure we were her favorites? Anyway, she led me to the historical fiction section of the library and encouraged me to up my reading level while in grade school.

When I preferred reading to burning my skin at the public pool, I remember lazing about all summer long. “Giants in the Earth” was my first big novel, by Rolvaag. I’ve reread it three or four times since – just this past year as a matter of fact. I credit her with cultivating that thirst for history and the weaving of stories.

I think I’ll search out a donut this weekend in her honor!