Memorial Day 2020; The curse lives on.....

I am not the superstitious type, and I typically don't believe in that sort of thing, but I laughingly refer to my string of bad Memorial Day luck as my "curse." My past Memorial Day incidents have included broken bones, hospitalizations, and other etc. These things have all happened on Memorial Day or during Memorial Day weekend. Before you all accuse me of looking for trouble on this day, I assure you that these incidents are not simple "oops, I stubbed my toe" type of incidents, these are the far out-of-the-ordinary circumstances. I broke my knee on Memorial Day, I broke an ankle on this weekend, my older son's foot was crushed by a car on this weekend, and so it goes. I'm sad to say that Memorial Day 2020 was no exception.

We decided that it would be nice to visit some cemetaries outside of town to pay our respects. First of all, we wanted to visit Gypsum, which is a small community not too far from Salina, where my grandparents and aunt (mom's side) are buried. We were met with flooded roads and uncrossable areas, but we actually, finally made it to our destination to place some flowers on the headstones of people who were very dear to our hearts. We had to reach the cemetery by going way out of our way by several miles, but we made it. From there, we wanted to visit the burial site of some people who were like another set of grandparents to my sister and I, and they were like parents to my mom. We hadn't been there in years, and since they are buried near Abilene, and since we were relatively close, we decided to head out that way. When we turned onto the dirt road and began driving down it, we felt the road become boggy and very muddy. We automatically knew that this wasn't going to work. We reached a cement bridge and turned the car around. It was definitely not worth the risk to try and proceed. Retracing our route back down the road, it was much worse. Our car tires began to sink down into the mud. We slid closer to the side of the road and that was it. We were stuck. Bad. What do we do now? Hope that somebody comes by? It was evident by looking at this road that this road was hardly ever traveled. What do we do now? My sister tried to rock her way out of the mud, to no avail. We decided to try to lighten the load, so I got out with my mom and nephew. The mud was so thick that we had trouble walking. Our feet kept getting stuck. Yeah, it was bad. The lighter load wasn't helping, either. Nothing left to do but push. My nephew and I got in front of the car and pushed back. Then we got behind and tried to push forward. It was very hard to get a foothold to push the car. We tried pulling weeds alongside the roadside and placing them under the tires for traction. No dice. It was evident that over time, we managed to eventually move the car back a few feet. We were getting it! We worked at this for about 2 hours. Finally, it got to the point that the car wasn't going to budge any further. My nephew and I were spent and exhausted.  Nothing left to do but call for help. We got a hold of a guy in Abilene who had a tractor and equipment to get us out. It took him about an hour to get to us to rescue us. During that time, we had to deal with mosquitos and biting flies. He hooked us up and pulled us up the hill, and at the top, he unhooked us and advised us to let the momentum carry us down the other side, along with the gas pedal, all the way to the highway. We almost didn't make it, but by God's grace, we reached the highway and blessed asphalt! The whole experience was about a 3-hour ordeal.

As we sat by the roadside waiting for the tractor to catch up with us so we could settle up, it hit me all of a sudden. It was Memorial Day! I brought the curse with me! With the rotten luck I have every Memorial Day, I unwittingly brought my family into my bad luck! We had a good laugh over that. Looking back, I realize that it could have been much worse. No one was injured. A few mosquito bites and some mud-spattered clothes and shoes. We escaped without getting hurt, so that is a plus. The bill was the painful part. He had to come from a half-hour away, load up his tractor, and pull us out...on a holiday. The guy was very nice, but he had a business to run, and his fee was not cheap. In the end, I was late to work; I had to change clothes; and I need to buy new shoes, but on the upside, I was going to buy some new shoes anyway, as mine were pretty much toast. We laughed a lot during the adventure, and we all came out OK. So despite the curse, we are all right.

Next year on Memorial Day weekend, I'm going to stay in bed and not come out until the weekend is over......LOL.  

Saturday ramblings

So, it's done. But it's just the beginning. I'm talking about my garden project 2020. Everything is in the ground! To be honest, I went against all that I believe in, and planted about a week and a half ago. I broke with my policy of May-only planting. I know, I know! So sue me! (Commence with the throwing of rotten tomatoes here). LOL.  I had taken a look at the 10-day forecast, and noticed that there were no freezing or cold temps, so I went for it. Things are progressing slowly. Everything I plant starts with seed, with the exception of the tomatoes, which I purchase as little plants through a plant nursery here in town. Typically I plant 6 tomato plants, but this year I went with 9. I love to give tomatoes away, and I never seem to have enough, so this year I plan to have plenty. I'll advertise my tomato give-aways here before I post to Facebook, so it pays to stay tuned to the blog! I'm hoping to have other produce to give away, but that depends on how abundant everything else is. Tomatoes are my main commodity. For those of you who are tomato-informed, my 3 breeds are early girls, jetstar, and better boy. My radishes are also coming along nicely, as are my corn and sunflowers. I went with a smaller breed of sunflower called "Jerusalem Gold." The name jumped at me, and I put them in my garden plot as a sort of celebration of my Israel trip this past winter. I did get some jumbo mammoth sunflowers, and those will go by the fence. I'm also planting flowers in strategic areas around my garden, hoping to attract butterflies and bees. They are very good for pollinating gardens. I noticed this morning that my green beans and okra are popping up. It is so good to have something to focus on during this crazy time in history. At the risk of being redundant, I will again say that gardening is therapy for me, and I'm at home in the yard.

Turning from the veggies, I'm also focusing on the yard in general. It's a battle that I'm gradually winning, bit by bit each year. When I first moved into my house here 7 years ago, the entire yard was weeds. Every year I nail the weeds with weed killer and I put down new seed and fertilizer, along with watering. In those 7 years, I have gone from 100% weeds/ 0%grass to 30% weeds/70% grass. I'm happy with that, but I'm going to keep at it until I have 100% grass and 0% weeds. From there, I will maintain.

In other news, even though we are being released from our stay-at-home order, things are going to open up slowly. The bowling alley will not be able to open just yet, and BGC will remain closed. Of course, the school will be closed until the 2020-21 school year, and I don't know if there will be a summer school program. We will be able to open a little more on the 17th, and a full open on June 1, providing we don't have another flare-up of covid-19. It appears the alley will be in the June 1 slot to open, but we will see. We are still going to have to be very careful as we move forward, keeping as socially distant as we can. Washing hands, and staying home if we don't feel well. Don't mess this up, people! We want to get back to life as we know it!  :-)

I have not heard anything about the closing of the State Fair in September. Some states have cancelled their state fairs, but theirs was sooner than September. Just yesterday, the fair was promoting their Grandstand acts, and showing no hint of shutting it down. I am mentally preparing myself in the event that they do shut it down. I will not get my hopes up. It would still be a downer, though. A lot of people look forward to my State Fair ramblings, and my blog numbers make a big jump during fair time.

I hope that you enjoy my blog all year round, especially now that I'm having the opportunity to blog more regularly. I know that sometimes I get a little repetitive and not the most interesting, but it really helps me in processing things. I know that I feel better after I have blogged.
Thanks for taking some time to read through, and I pray that God will bless you!