Nature Songs ~~~~
JULY, 2002 ~
July 15, 2002 ~ Troubles Abound Around Time was not on our side as far as the drought and its encumbrances. We do have access to more water than many of the towns in North Carolina and our problem is not lack of water. Still, Saturday’s local paper announced in large dark letters across the top of the front page the need for the county’s conserving and restricting usage of the water during certain times of the day. Dry conditions have increased usage to the point that morning and evening usage is draining the water pressure down and outlying areas are experiencing low pressure or no water at all. I can attest to the fact of needing to use more water. This past month between the commode hanging up and running too much until it was finally repaired by Wes, watering the flowers outdoors, the garden, and some playing with the water hose by the grandsons, my bill made a whopping jump from eight dollars to just over twenty dollars! Other households have probably jumped up even more.
The governor has announced grave drought conditions in 57 of our 100 counties in North Carolina. Our own county is one of the areas most affected by the lack of water as we experience the fourth year of below normal rainfall and a dwindling groundwater level, as well as creeks drying up or the level dropping way down. Lake Hickory and Lake Rhodhiss (where our water comes from) are way down and I noticed that grass and weeds are now growing where once there was water.
My finger and its Battle of the Bacteria Brigade not to be overlooked along with the dwindling water supply are enough to contend with, but there is more ... surprises keep popping out ...
A 2:15 a.m. phone call Saturday morning informed me that the alarm activated at Tbird’s home and the Sheriff’s Department had been sent out to investigate. No way was I going to try to drive over there in the night by myself to check things out. I had to trust that if any problem was noted the patrolman would contact me after checking out the house. Tbird and her family were at Myrtle Beach four days. I was invited, but declined the invite upon learning they were on the second floor of a condo with no elevator. My activities would have been greatly affected by those stairs. As it turned out, my finger would have been a problem there, too. They returned Sunday and found that the house seemed to be okay.
Saturday evening, Tbird went out to her car to get some things for Giggles while they were at a restaurant. In a three minute span of time she lost her billfold. She said for where she was and the length of time, the person that picked it up was probably there watching her and the family searching everywhere for it to no avail. The hostess for the restaurant was outdoors and a lot of people were there waiting to be seated. She had to call and cancel her cards she was carrying and it was one of the few times she was carrying cash. She filed a lost item report with the police, but it’s very doubtful she will ever hear anything. Now she has to get a new driver’s license, social security card and insurance card. Thankfully, much of what she normally would have carried in the billfold had been taken out and left at home because of the trip to Australia.
Something else happened Saturday morning in our extended family. BJ’s oldest daughter’s husband was involved in a wreck. He was coming over to Brother’s house to work on the television which was not working right. He refused a ride with my niece since he fears for his life when she drives him around. She does have her own unique driving skills, but has a good driving record.
Nephew-in-law got out his Harley for the short trip over the back roads to BJ’s. About half way on his journey, he was blind-sided by a deer darting out into the side of his Harley. He never saw it at all. One second he is chugging right along and the next second, he hits face first on the pavement in front of his motorcycle and continues to bounce along a distance before coming to a stop. The deer was found in the ditch injured, but alive and the highway patrolman had to shoot it due to the injuries. He had to spend the day in the emergency room at the hospital getting his jaw wired together where it was broken, thankfully, there was no concussion. His hand was broken and a cut was on his leg. Along with the skin burns from the pavement, bruises and scrapes he will be most sore the next few days. He will be sipping his food through a straw for a while and there are stitches here and there, but overall he was most fortunate. Things could have been worse - much worse.
This week looks like some rain will be falling around here. We’ll take all we can get for now. Nephew-in-law appears to be on the mend. My finger looks better. Tbird should get her affairs straightened out from the lost wallet. This week has to be better for one and all. Allan gets another MRI of his back to see what has gone wrong and I’m optimistic his back will be fixable and usable. This has to be a better week.
July 17, 2002 ~ Shopping With Bowwows ~~ Befitting to say the least, what better way to spend a hot summer’s day? BingoKid went through the house placing canisters of insect repellent/killer. Time had come to take a stand and make the house less attractive to those living outdoors. News report that as the heat and dry conditions continue more and more spiders, ants and other creatures of the woods will make their way into homes. Enough of the tiny spiders have already shown their webs here and there hanging around where the light reflects off them. In order for the five canisters to do their work we had to cover the food, take the dogs out with us and stay for two hours or so. Whence, there was the need for filling that time away from home with two dogs. So, a shopping we did go!
While I made sure doors were open or closed as they needed to be and covered all the food and put it in safe places, BingoKid placed the bombs where they would do the most good throughout the house ready to activate. Charlie and Oreo were hooked to their leashes and placed in the car. It was time for BingoKid to start in the sunken room and work his way through to the backdoor, releasing the toxic insect bombs. The backdoor locked; we were ready to roll.
Charlie is adapting well to sitting on the back seat now. It’s so good to have him behaving well enough that I don’t have to place him in the crate on these hot days. He does have a little routine of putting his paws on the armrest to look outside and hitting the window button causing the window to roll down. He loves having it down so he can sniff and feel the wind on his face as much as Oreo enjoys doing the same thing at the front window. That is a no-no since it is dangerous and I have to roll up the window and lock the button keeping him from causing the window to roll down again. Charlie also enjoys sitting in the booster carseat since he can see out better
First we had to make a stop at the drive-through of the drugstore to pick up those persistently running out prescriptions. I was dreading the idea of taking all my prescriptions to another drugstore when the main office announced they would no longer process state employees insurance policies. They felt they were loosing too much money by accepting what the state would allow on the drugs prescribed. At the last minute the higher-ups had a change of mind and are keeping us. I do have to believe that even with the decision not to change they have already lost a lot of customers that changed pharmacies and didn’t wait until the last minute as I did. I’ve been with them about twenty years now and feel they know me and my medical needs more than some strangers would.
Puppies or not, the next stop was at the Sonic for a morsel to eat. We hadn’t partook of the noonday meal and were famishing. It was already after two and the half price deal was on all the drinks. The dogs had to bark when the food was brought to the car for us, but otherwise they did quite well as they sat patiently on the back sit awaiting that last bite of bacon I saved from my BLT on toast. All those times of making them wait at home quietly while I eat has paid off for us.
Time had come. Our next move was to head down Highway 321 toward Hickory. I kind’a goofed and forgot that I was not picking up NascarKid at the Science Museum. Thinking of collecting him and then DynoKid and knowing that we were an hour early, this was a good time for a trip to PetSmart. The dogs were welcomed to come in shopping with us and none of us would be hot while waiting. I had been meaning to order some halters for them, but why not see and try what they would have?
Before reaching PetSmart, there was a detour by the drive-through of Kristy Kreme Doughnuts to buy a dozen of those warm melt-in-your-mouth goodies. Leashes in hand we left our car and headed indoors with Oreo and Charlie. They walked right along with us as if they knew exactly what they were doing. I was surprised how well they did as we walked up and down a few aisles looking at different things. Some dog had marked one of the supporting poles on one aisle and Oreo immediately had to check it out. For a second, I was afraid he might try to mark the spot, but he only smelled and moved along with us.
Turning from one aisle to the next, I was greeted by a long aisle full of colors of the rainbow and then some of leashes, collars, and halters. Wow! How is one supposed to make a decision from so many choices? Since Charlie had the blue leash today, we went for the blue halter for him. BingoKid chose a black one for Oreo and naturally, there had to be a leash to match since I had no black leashes at home. Next, we lingered along the snack aisle as BingoKid tried to allow Oreo to choose a snack.. Seems that Oreo was not interested in the same items of the young Homo sapien. I chose a bag of chicken jerky for them and two small flavored bones to gnaw on and we were ready to checkout.
Once back in the car, we headed from the SW of Hickory to the NW area to pick up NascarKid. There was time to adjust the halters and try them on the dogs before NascarKid came out from his summer class. Just as the vet had suggested, with the leashes hooked to the halters both dogs were able to move about without tugging against their throats and having that gagging cough every time they go out on the leash. Both halters are the nylon type, but if they continue to work well, a rolled leather one would do better on Charlie. The nylon one is too bulky looking on him. Oreo’s black halter gets lost in his long hair and seems to do better.
We had crossed the Catawba River heading back to Lenoir and saw him ... NascarKid asked, “Did Dad call you about changing his mind today?” “No, why?” “Did you forget that he was picking us up today?”
Yep! That I did. With doing those other out of the ordinary things today, I completely forgot about the early morning call telling me that I didn’t have to pick up the boys today. Now, here he was heading toward Hickory to pick up NascarKid and I was heading up toward Lenoir to pick up DynoKid. Quickly, we made a call on the cellular phone to tell him what was taking place and that we would meet him at the church where DynoKid was in Vacation Day Camp for the week. At least, he didn’t have to go all the way into Hickory to find out that there was no boy waiting for him... Turns out that the kids had gone swimming today and they had not returned to the church when we arrived.
We stopped by and took the dogs in to visit a spell with Mother before heading on home to air out the house. Wes beat us home and was waiting to pick up BingoKid before heading on to his home. Before he left, my phone rang and it was Wendy. She had just come home from work and gone down to the basement to wash a load of clothes. She heard a strange sound when she opened the basement door and then saw it. The basement was flooded! Water was spewing out just below the overflow valve of the hot water heater. Wes had to go home to clear out the water and fix or replace the water heater. His work never ends.
July 20, 2002 ~ Those Lazy, Hazy Days ~~ Here we are in the midst of summer. Another straight week of temperatures in the nineties and the heat index causes us to feel more of the humid southern heat up in the hundred plus range. Is it any wonder that we are known for moving slowly and sitting in the shade with a cooling glass of iced tea or lemonade in hand? Humid? How can it be that it is so humid and yet so dry? Nature has its own oxymoron. The cracks in the earth are deepening and extending as more and more of the moisture is drawn out of it by the unending drought. For now there is no end in sight of this four years and counting lack of needed water.
A local television weatherman compared Charlotte’s air quality to looking through the glass of a dirty fishbowl because of the smoggy collection hanging around. In fact, Charlotte happened to earn an unprestigious spot of being one of the worst in our nation for smog this week. Yet another problem arises with the dry conditions. It appears that snakes need water, too. In order to find some water, the snakes are out crawling as never before and many people are even finding them in their homes. A warning has been issued for everyone to look before stepping in order to avoid being snake bitten. Last year there were 88 snakes bites in the area. This summer, already over a hundred bites have been treated and the number is sure to climb higher. This will be a good test for Charlie in seeing if he is able to keep them run off from around the house here
I’ve been watching as a young golden hawk learns to fend for itself. Three of them are in my backyard as two are perched up on the lower limbs of the oak trees keeping a keen eye out for intruders. The young one seems more interested in preening itself than in searching for food. Periodically, an adult will glide down over the young one’s head as if to nudge him into action. They ran off the crows that have been frequenting the yard for a long time.
While much of the area crops are failing because of the dry weather the police and sheriff’s departments are gearing up for the annual search of an illegal crop which grows well here. Our leading cash crop happens to be the one that is illegal - marijuana! Strange, but true, the other best cash business of years past was the making and selling of moonshine. Lately, more of the illegal stills are being built in remote areas of mostly the rugged terrain of Wilkes County. Small airplanes puttered over my house flying low so they could spot any of the marijuana plants growing. Marijuana is easy to spot from the sky because of its unique green color and the best way of finding the spots quickly is from above. Sometimes plants are found growing inside houses, but the quickest growth comes from the ones growing outside. Once the searchers locate some plants, they are pulled up and burned.
Meanwhile the heat marches on ...
Sign Guestbook ~ ~ View Guestbook
Lenoir,NC 28645
United States
©2002 by Stormy Jeanne
