Startled!

     I went to the supermarket today for just a few things (which by the way translates to 3 bags and over $100.00) and I was engrossed in my thoughts as I approached my car with the cart and remotely unlocked it and opened the trunk.  I found a box of wipes there that I forgot to take inside the other day, slid them aside and turned to put the bags in the trunk and just about had a heart attack because there stood a tall young man! He had a friendly face under a pea cap and sunglasses, he was wearing a reflective safety vest with the supermarket's logo on it over his winter coat and warm gloves and was reaching for my bags. I caught my breath, chuckled and said that he had scared me as I neither saw nor heard him coming. He apologized and put my bags in the car for me, then took the empty cart and continued collecting them from the parking lot as he pushed them toward the building.   I giggled to myself all the way home thinking about that and it got me remembering other times when someone has startled me.

    The first instance that comes to mind is when I was maybe 10 years old and my eldest brother stood outside the bathroom door and jumped out at me yelling "Boo!" as I exited.  I remember screaming and grabbing the front of his shirt and shaking him, ripping the buttons off. Growing up with 3 brothers was an experience.  When I worked at the high school kitchen (a job I was forced to leave and never go back to because of the pandemic in 2020 and circumstances at home) there was a young man working there as well and he liked to scare us in a similar matter to my brother.  I, however, warned him not to do it to me and related the story about my brother and the ripped buttons saying that if I could do that at such a young age, imagine how much more damage I could do to someone now.  I guess my warning worked because he never did try to scare me.

    Another time that comes to mind was when my daughter was in the hospital for surgery and we were lucky enough to be moved to a room with no roommate for a few days (at my request due to  a roommate with a loud mother).  It was very quiet, she was sleeping, it was after 8:00 pm and the lights were low.  I was reading a Dean Koontz novel and was at a part in the story where a crazed rhesus monkey was getting ready to jump onto the protagonist when a voice said, "hello".  My heart just about beat out of my chest as I jumped and almost screamed.  It was the hospital chaplain come to see how we were doing and if we needed anything he could help with.  We both had a good laugh for a minute.

    We've all probably been startled awake by a ringing phone, loud clap of thunder, or sudden wind gust blowing something against the house in the middle of the night. Some people startle more readily than others, or maybe some of us just hide it better.  Who's to say, but I do think it's something everyone can relate to.

Well I know Thanksgiving is over, but wanted to share this here.  I hope everyone had a nice day filled with good food, people you love, and thankfulness for what you have.

Back Fred's Demise

 

               Back Fred was a Wisteria which I bought and planted 17 years ago when my mother passed away.  When I bought it, I expected beautiful purple blooms as the one my mother had in our side yard.  Mine, however didn’t ever bloom.  It didn’t fail to grow, it was quite good at that and I planted it in what I came to realize was an ill-advised spot as it got quite large and top heavy.  I had my husband put a trellis behind it and we tied both to the deck so that strong winds wouldn’t pull it over. Over time I kept it trimmed back from the deck landing and the walkway into the back yard as well as I could.  It grew exponentially when we had lots of rain, and if we went away for a few days in the summer it began covering the deck requiring a severe cutting back.  Still, I enjoyed it and hoped every year for flowers on it; until we realized that it was leaning to one side so much that it was pulling the deck apart.  Even so, we kept it there and enjoyed the bit of shade it gave to the back yard and the bit of privacy to anyone sitting on the deck. 

               We spoke about moving Back Fred or cutting it down every year for the past few, but somehow just never got around to doing it.  We kind of liked his spirit and willingness to just keep growing no matter how much we cut back.  Winters full of ice and snow and strong winds out of the north did nothing to hurt it, even if the frozen stuff was so heavy that he bent almost to the ground he’d stand up again as soon as the sun did its job and melted the ice off the branches.  Yes, Back Fred was hardy, as wisteria tends to be.  We named it Back Fred because we already had a Front Fred which was old forsythia which predated our homeownership and we just didn’t have the heart to get rid of. He was in the middle of the front lawn and for a time we (well, my husband) kept it trimmed into the shape of some type of umbrella tree.  Eventually Front Fred became too tall and top heavy and didn’t fare as well in winter as Back Fred.  After one especially icy winter Front Fred no longer stood up once the ice melted and became an obstacle to efficient lawn mowing so a couple of years ago we had  landscapers come and remove and trim some trees and put poor Front Fred out of his misery.

               It was this past Saturday that we came home from a run to the market to get some things for a cookout we were having on Sunday to see that Back Fred was falling over.  Despite a valiant effort by my husband to trim enough off to stand him back up, the trellis had been pulled out of the ground and rusted and would need to be cut out of the plant.  We decided that it was best for poor Back Fred to be put out of his misery as well as save the deck from being pulled completely apart.  So now there is an empty space where there was lush greenery, but it does kind of give a more open feel to the patio and deck and back yard.  We also have lots of wood to burn in the chimenea if we ever get days that are cool enough without being frigid to enjoy a fire on the patio.  I know they’ll come but it feels as if the summer will never end this year as it’s been especially hot and dry.  It might be that the ground was too dry and helped Back Fred’s ultimate demise as he was too top heavy for the dry soil to hold the trellis in place any longer.

               So we had a fun time the next day with our gathering which began with my daughter’s boyfriend helping remove Back Fred’s remains.  We had a Yahtzee tournament, (I won!), good food, lots of laughs, and nice sunny weather.  We did miss Back Fred’s shade but we compensated by using various umbrellas as parasols.  We’re well versed in making do with what we have and moving on and umbrellas were the most obvious solution to our lack of shade for a little while until the sun was a little lower and the house cast enough shade for us to be comfortable once again.

               I will miss seeing Back Fred, but I won’t miss the work of keeping him trimmed and once the deck is repaired he will just be a fond memory. 

   On the right you can see where the deck is coming apart.  Poor Back Fred was touching the ground.

        This is when my husband tried trimming some off the top in an attempt to save poor Back Fred.

         Then he fell over and we realized that he was going to have to be removed completely.