Catchup,* part 5: Margie nearly gets flattened by a rude mother in a truck with her two, beautiful, young daughters

There were several empty handicapped parking spaces near the main entrance to Carr's when we pulled in. Given Margie's condition, we could qualify in some ways, but the fact is we do not have the proper license plate or sticker, so of course we did not park there. No one who does not need those spaces should ever park in a handicapped spot.

Someday, I will post my photo-essay on my late brother, Ron, and you will understand why I am a hawk on this issue. I am learning to control myself, to tell myself that I am not a police officer and that there is nothing I can do about the rude, ignorant, dolts of the world, but I simply get outraged when I see a healthy person with no sticker park in such a spot. In the past, I have unleashed my wrath on more than a few, but now I try just to take a few deep breaths and move on.

Yes, when I post that essay, you will understand.

A big pickup truck was parked in one of the handicapped spaces. I could see no sticker, no license plate - but maybe there was something in the front window that was not visible to me from the back. 

Despite the fact she would be slow, Margie wanted to go into the store and shop for herself and I wanted to sit in the car and listen to All Things Considered on the radio. We were fortunate to find a parking space not far from the door, so I parked and she got out.

As she did, a fairly young woman with two little girls, who appeared to be her daughters, came bounding happily out of Carr's. And I mean bounding. All three were laughing and smiling, the little girls skipped and bounced and the woman moved at a brisk pace to easily keep up with them.

You can imagine my surprise when they climbed into the truck parked in the handicapped space.

That surprise soon turned to helpless terror when the lady backed out at too high a rate of speed - headed straight for my Margie, who was hobbling helplessly on her crutches. I was helpless. I could do nothing.

She missed her by inches.

Then, laughing with the little girls, she drove happily away, oblivious to what she had just about done.

Damn!

This was from one of those days when I got up late and groggy and had to go eat at Family Restaurant. It is nearly noon and that is why the sun is so high. If I had been there at a typical breakfast time, it would have been dark.

Family Restaurant.

When Kalib was a brand new baby, this waitress was delighted to see him. She oohed and aahed and cooed and all that kind of stuff. I can't wait until we can bring the next baby in and see how she reacts to him/her.

Old, wrecked, cars passing through Wasilla. Were they part of the Clunkers program? Or just old, wrecked, cars?

Did anybody ever make love in any of them?

How many hamburgers and hot dogs were eaten within?

Did anybody ever die in one?

Or break their neck and never walk again?

Or hit a man on a motorcycle and break his neck, so that he never walked again?

I find myself stopped behind a school bus.

On one side of me, this dog, Tequilla, barked furiously...

..simultaneously, on the other side, this dog barked, observed by two cows. Barking dogs, in stereo.

A typical scene from Schrock Road during a coffee break.

Jacob and Royce.

*Although I have scheduled this to appear Thursday, November 12, I actually made this post on Thursday, November 5. There are two reasons for this: 1: whatever bug it is that has got me down has left me unable to concentrate to the degree that I must to do my work. 2: The project that I have been working on is very nearly done, but I have never brought such a project to a close without going full-bore, night and day, on it at the end, distracted by no other tasks, including this blog.

So, before I go to bed, I am going to put up several days worth of posts from photos that I have recently taken but have not used. Then, for the next several days, I will not blog, I will stay away from the internet as much as possible and just bear down on getting this job done - but my posts will keep coming.

I think Kalib with get three of those posts, two at the very least.

Addendum - one image from today:

A shadow self-portrait. This is not early morning, it is not late afternoon - it is high noon. This is the season of long shadows.

President? A carpenter looks for work; signs that Wasilla's summer has reached its end

I simply could not bear the thought of eating a sandwich and can of soup for lunch today, plus, I figured that if Margie felt up to it, I really ought to get her out of the house, as she had spent the whole morning and early afternoon sitting in one spot. 

"You up to getting into the car and going somewhere for a fast food lunch?" I asked.

"Yes," she said. 

So off we went to Carl's Jr.

After a scrumptious meal eaten from inside the parked Escape, watching cars go by, we prepared to leave. As we neared the exit onto the Palmer-Wasilla highway, I saw this guy, who, judging by his sign is a carpenter looking for work.

I was hoping that I would reach the corner just as a horde of traffic came barrelling down the highway, so that I would be forced to stop right by the man and then I could interview him through the passenger window as I waited for a break in traffic. I rolled the window down as we drew near. The capenter saw my pocket camera and hid his face behind his sign.

"I'll put you on my blog!" I shouted through the window, as I rolled by as slowly as possible. That seemed to catch his interest. He lowered the sign away and exposed his face, as if he were ready to be photographed and interviewed. Unfortunately, there was a break in the Palmer-Wasilla Highway traffic and there were several cars behind me and he drivers all wanted me to pull out onto the highway so they could, too. Not only could I not conduct an interview, but the pocket camera takes a full second to recycle and I did not have a second to wait.

So I had to zip out onto the highway without even taking a second picture, one that would show his face.

"We should hire him to fix our toilet," Margie said as I sped away.

Maybe. But we really can't afford to, right now, and once I am on the road, I do not like to turn around and go back in the direction from which I just came.

And how would I check his credentials?

I hope he got some work, though.

What does he mean, "President," at the bottom of his sign? 

Maybe he is the President of his company. Maybe he doesn't like President Obama. Maybe he likes President Obama. Maybe he means that not only can he do carpentry work for you, he can be the President of your company. Maybe he has just launched his campaign for 2012.

I don't know.

I wish I could have done that interview.

 

They say that when the fireweed blooms at the very top, our summer has reached its end. For any reader who may be unfamiliar with fireweed, all those purple stems were once blossoms. The ones at the bottom would have bloomed in mid-July, when I was on the Arctic Slope and then they moved their way up.

Now they have reached the top, so summer must be over. It felt like it today, too. It was so cold in the house that we had to turn the heat on for awhile.

Still, I wore a t-shirt when I took my walk and the cool air felt good to me. 

And here is another sign that summer is ending. Green remains the dominant color in the deciduous trees, but more and more yellow is appearing and soon the green will all be gone.

And here is still another sign. (In a comment added after my post, OmegaMom, who knows her mushrooms, suggested that I separate the above photo of what she identified as an amanite mushroom from the following discussion of Portabello mushrooms, lest some innocent person should become confused and poison themselves.)

I had a portabello burger at Carl's Jr. Oh, my goodness! It was good! No other fast food restaurant that I know of makes a burger to match Carl's Jr. In fact, very few restaurants do.

I was also reminded of when I first became aware of portobello mushrooms. I was down in the Lower 48 and portabellos were being touted as a delicious meat alternative. Some people were eating steaks and lobster. Others were eating portabello mushrooms. I told the server that I wanted the steak, the lobster and the mushroom. He scowled and said it was one or the other. 

So I ate the steak and lobster, then came back for seconds and got the portabello.

Now you can buy a portabello burger at Carl's Jr. that combines mushroom and meat and it is wonderful.