Sunny Hump Day

Hump DAY!  (imagine a camel walking through an office)  And it's SUNNY!  (all caps for happy not hollering)  With all the rain every lawn in sight is bright green, even the random blades in our front yard are green around the brown patches.  I sure hope that the seed I scattered on Saturday is even now working its way into the ground working to fill in the blanks so our lawn looks all green too.  I'm just afraid it's some sort of grub or fungus or something.  Bah.  Luckily whatever it is hasn't touched my tulips and grape hyacinths.  Whew.  And nothing's menacing the Lilies of the Valley in back.  Double Whew.

Yesterday afternoon I explored the wilds of the South Broadway neighborhoods looking for the body shop that Joe (the guy we buy our cars from) told me about to get my Post-Office-truck fender dent undented.  I found it down by the old, now defunct, railroad yard behind ranks of vehicles with splotches of body putty and primer.  He took a look and quoted me $275, lower than our deductible so we won't be filing an insurance claim.  (I didn't think we would.)  Anyway, we went into his office for a business card so he could scribble the estimate and I'd have his number and the office is papered in Ford Model A posters, so I admired them and found a picture of the family Model A on one and pointed it out.  He showed me a picture of him and his bride getting into his '31 Coupe on their wedding day.  *sigh*  Then he led me into his shop where he has a few in pieces.  Oh, mama, now those are cars.  One of them's a wooden bed truck (looks like a buckboard) with wood-spoke wheels and a wooden steering wheel that he's restoring for a woman.  That might not be a Model A but it sure is going to be pretty when it's done.  I knew I had the right place, not only was it in a shady part of town, had parts of vehicles in the yard, and others in various stages of repair, the guy's a Model A guy.  Score!  I'll be calling later today to set up an appointment.

Last night there was a full moon shining down through the gauzy clouds and still leafless trees when I hauled out the garbage.  It's called either the Grass Moon or the Planting Moon.  I pick Grass Moon so maybe it's rays will help my grass seed grow.  *fingers crossed*

I downloaded SpyBot (the free one) last night to augment my regular, paid-for antivirus program since my email got hacked last week (password is changed, all should be well) and in the first scan it found 199 things that needed deleting.  One-hundred-ninety-nine!  I scanned again this morning since our computer guy friend said you should always restart your computer after a scan and rescan since some baddies can hide behind other baddies--and it found 59 more.  I'm tempted to scan again and again and again until it comes up with zero--but I probably won't.  Okay, maybe one more time.  I should have spent the money for a Mac since they're not virus targets as much but I hear from VJ that that's changing.  Ah well, such is life in the computer age.

May 14--Persian-made for Turkey, Dagger with Scabbard.  Karen had never seen anything like it.  The jeweled hilt of an 18th century dagger was jutting from the center of the woman's chest.  The jewels sparkled in the lights from the squad cars blocking either end of the alley, in marked contrast to the rat-infested and garbage-choked crime scene.  Karen was surprised that the teens who discovered the body hadn't made off with the murder weapon.  She hadn't thought kids from this part of the city were squeamish about anything but the pair of young men talking to her partner Levine kept their eyes averted and both looked ready to faint or puke.  The strobe flashes from Thorn's crime scene photos lit up the alley in jagged sections reminding her of the avant garde, art house movies her university boyfriend had been so fond of.  The odd camera angles and jerky cuts had made her feel motion sick at times.  She stood up, hearing her knees pop and not liking it.  Now was not the time for nostalgia.

Time to get a move on.  I think I'll put blueberries on my cereal today.  I know, I'm a wild woman, I'm just so glad that it's sunny I don't really mind that it's a little chillier.  I have a cotton sweater that'll do just fine today.  Hasta la vista, babies.
--Barbara