I was amazed to be awoken by the luxurious sounds of thunder this morning! How utterly delightful! I do love my rain.
I don't remember the last time it rained here. I'm not alone in my excitement.
All I have to say is that all the Flora and fauna is loving it! Once I get my chores done, I'm heading out on the front porch, perhaps even with book in hand, to chill in the cooler weather that has hit Middle Tennessee.
Yesterday, we were bombarded with starlings. I've never seen them around the bird feeders before; but they sure have come in for the kill.
When I went out to shoo them away, I swear there must have been 100 that flew out from my mom's yard below. Kinda scared me. Looked straight out of Hitchcock's "The Birds."
Some of them hid in the trees below, but most of them flew the coop once I started clapping at them. This is towards the end of my clapping, so you can only imagine what it was like before. Ew. Those are crazy looking birds. Their eyes glow green. Scary.
Of course, today was the day I was taking ol' Ollie in to get cleaned up for the trip to Riverside where she is going into semi-retirement. Ollie, as I have lovingly named her only after she went into secondary mode, is part of the family. As much as I hated to move on, she was beginning to show signs of wear and tear and needs to take it easy in her "golden" years, so to speak. She has been in our family since the teenager was five and beginning kindergarten and the kid not quite two years old. They have both Christened the car with their stickers which still stick to their windows (the kid's on the right, the teenager's on the left). I suppose we all have Christened her. My coffee stains are all over the front, seat worn where my big butt has slid in and out a zillion times, etc. Quite frankly, I was surprised not to find an old baby bottle under the seat once I started digging. I did, however, find lots of little Leggo's and various other tiny objet'd kid. It does the heart good knowing she will be in our family for many years to come. There's a special attachment to my Ollie and I am happy to say she is officially the summer car. Wooo hoooo. Well, almost. Let's hope she makes it down to Alabama. (She's been in and out of the shop since March with various ailments--the most serious being the alternator, ouch.) Once there, I will have to store her for the winter. Which brings me back to having her cleaned up. I've been reading up on storing cars, and the number one rule is to make sure there is no remanence of food left behind. Well, when you have a car for 13 years and raise two boys in it, there's going to be remanence of food. With that said, I definitely do NOT want critters crawling in and have a smorgasbord during the winter months while Ollie sits idle. Therefore the day at the spa. Well, even after making the appointment, the spa (shhhh, we won't tell her it's just a car wash) was closed due to rain. Murphy's law, right?
With August quickly approaching, I took all my July 4th stuff down this morning. Don't know what I'm decorating with next. Can you believe the summer is almost over?Garsh darnit. I think I see the sun peeking through. Have I missed my relaxing moment on the porch. Oooof. If the sun comes out, it's going to be a sauna out there. Loverly. Think I lost my chance to enjoy the cool.
7 comments:
Living in the foothills in northern California, we don't have rain from May until September or October. I not only miss the rain, but I would give anything to hear thunder or see lightning! I haven't experienced either of those, now, for two or three years, at least. I grew up in the Midwest, and then Houston, with frequent thunderstorms. I've lived here 10 years - and I still miss thunder and lightning.
Oh, I forgot to say - I love your 4th of July decorations!
I second what Lori just said about the thunderstorms. I, too, grew up in the Midwest and now live in Southern California where we don't get much, if any, summer rain. I do miss it. I hope you get to enjoy a few minutes on the porch with your book. Maybe it won't warm up too fast.
(I've been on a blog break but now I'm back.)
I also love summer storms and rain!
Wow, it does indeed look as if this scene was taken straight out of Hitchcok's "The Birds"!!!
Cheers,
Rosa
We get Starlings here too and they always arrive in droves...I always think of THE BIRDS also when I see them! lol Glad to hear you're getting some much needed rain. It's been weird here, it gets all dark and then rains for a minute and clears right up, then starts all over again. We need a good solid rain but it's just not happening.
We still have a 1990 Cavalier that we're keeping as a second vehicle...being 18 years old, it's just a matter of time before she completely conks out on us but it's just too hard to get rid of her for now:-) So I do know how you feel about your Ollie!! hehe
Yes, it is hard to believe that July is almost over already...summer is going by much too fast. I'm still waiting for my air conditioner, it's been at the shop for almost 3 weeks now! They'll bring it back when summer is over, just watch! Sigh.
Have a great weekend my friend. xoxo
what a kind hearted ollie owner you are. i have never named a car but every time i hear something like this i think "i must not care enough about my family of automobiles.." and then i feel kinda guilty. you have the most complete posts of any other blog i go to. you can go from the car spa to easter from Alabama to Tennessee all in one day. well that's not altogether true, the egg post was on wednesday. the birds. dang was the scariest, i mean the scariest movie i will ever see in my life! i must have been all of 12 when it came out and it kept me awake for years to come. don't even remind me!
boy i'm kind of yakkity here aren't i?
bye!
have fun in riverside dear rosa!
xo
Oh, I hope you get a little more rain. It might sprinkle some here this weekend. We could use it. Not so much because of really hot temps, but more for the lawns and gardens that are looking pretty tired. Sunflowers are pretty in August, I think.
Well, you know that I know how you feel about your old Volvo. It's nice that you have a good reason to hang onto it. I passed mine on to my nephew, who has been driving it all summer, but I confess that I did tear up a bit when it left. They are such wonderful cars.
Have a great weekend!
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