Making Something Out Of Nothing

That's exactly what I've been trying to do for the last couple of weeks.  I really had to work at it yesterday to make something out of the nothing going on around here.  This part was pretty exciting ... a 106 degree day in May.  We don't usually get these temps until July.  It doesn't bode well for June.

After searching around for thirty minutes to find my marathon-wear, I was able to S-Q-U-E-E-Z-E into the compression shorts I always wore ..... barely.  Gosh ... they made me look ten pounds lighter.  How cool was THAT!!  Breathing quickly became a problem when I bent over to put my running shoes on.

This is around the corner and down the street.  Thankfully most of it was in the shade because even at 6:00 in the morning, it was hot.  While I usually wear my iPod for music, it was not to be found so I had to amuse myself with humming.  

When I arrived at the end, there was a huge ruckus in the Bird Man's back yard.  This gentleman has an entire acre of cages with birds, pheasants, dove, ducks and two peacock escapees.  They do make really good watch dogs and squawked accordingly as I walked by.  I always wondered where that loud peacock sound came from, thinking it was a much closer neighbor.  Sounds does travel I guess.

There were lots of blooming oleanders along the roadways, but even their beauty didn't dissuade the squeezing around my middle like a boa constrictor hungry for dinner.  I thought maybe if I went far enough, I could actually lose an entire pound in one walk, resulting in me at least not passing out.

I did have the urge to run occasionally ... old habits die hard ... but not having the ENTIRE marathon outfit on, things move around WAY too much.  I'm afraid to gear up, having previously been completely stuck in an awkward position with no way of getting out .... kind of like trying on a too-small dress in the dressing room where you have to call someone to drag it off over your head.  Embarrassing to say the least.  

At any rate, I was surprised to find this tiny library along the way, half full of kids stuff, half full of not bad books.  I'm not sure how these work ... are you supposed to deposit a book in order to borrow one?  I just might deposit some so they know their little library is working.

More pretty flowers along the route kept my tempo up, but the skinny mini girl in the cute pink outfit weighing in at about 100 pounds took away all my desire to be back on the road.

I did survive and the pants stretched out enough to at least be able to breathe.  On the way back in, I lamented at the bare spots in my flower beds where gardeners of old had killed things.  I heard about a new nursery ... actually the ONLY nursery in this part of the country ... and thought I might take a ride since they are fairly close.

I was so entranced I completely forgot to take pictures.  Boy would I love to live there!!  Shade trees galore under which bloomed every kind of flower you can imagine.  He even had cactus!!  The nice man wandered around with me, talking about what else ... the heat.  

I found two awesome plants, but of course the pink tag said they were already spoken for.  RATS!!  In the end, I landed two very cool tree-like conifers I'll show you tomorrow.

He loaded them in my truck and off I went.  Unfortunately my air conditioning decided not to work.  For the last week, sometimes when I start up the truck, it works fine.  Then there's the times it throws out something akin to fire and flames.  By the time I got home, I almost ducked my head under the faucet ... it was THAT hot!!  

Even worse, it almost melted my yogurt treat!!!  Since our little town is open again, I decided to do my duty and visit all those I can to help their bottom line.  It's self serve, but they now do all the serving.  Watch out .... it's sold by weight!!  

Instead of my usual candy-filled cup, I opted for fruit.  Who knew it was frozen fruit?  Add to that some caramel sauce and this was the best thing since peanut butter!!

I'm off for an early morning walk, then I'll test my heat levels by planting those two beauties I purchased.  By 10:00 I'll probably be back in my relatively cool house working on some pictures I took in my back yard.  I think you'll like them.