Cars

Mister Ed Isn’t Available To Answer My Question, So I’ll Ask You

/ Ally Bean / 19 Comments

Yesterday afternoon I was driving home at about 25 mph through our subdivision when coming at me on the other side of the street were three people on three horses. Gorgeous horses. Big horses. Very calm.

Just walking along.  *clip-clop, clip-clop* 

Not knowing what to do when driving past horses on my suburban street, I slowed down to about 10 mph.  The people on the horses nodded, waved, but did not smile, as we passed each other.

Ever self-aware, I realized that I may have done something wrong.

So here is my question: when driving through city streets am I supposed to treat horses as cars and just drive on by;  OR am I supposed to slow down [stop?] when I see them?

Anyone got an answer?  I sure don’t.  This is all new to me.

• • •

I’m Going Zoom, Zoom, Zoom

/ Ally Bean / 15 Comments

•  To review, on Friday I presented you, my gentle readers, with 5 Truths & 1 Lie.  Since then many of you have hazarded a guess about which of my statements is the lie.

Also, many of you have suggested that I’m a good liar.  I’m still processing that idea.  I don’t know whether you say it to flatter my ego;  or to cover your butt if you pick the wrong statement as the lie.

•  Be that as it may, the lie I told was:

“4.  I DRIVE a gray SUV.  I named him Bullwinkle because of his color [which Lexus says is blue, but they’re wrong].  He’s not a new vehicle,  but he gets me where I need to go.”

This is a lie because I DRIVE A WHITE V-6 HONDA ACCORD COUPE.  Named Olivia. Rather old.  She has a snazzy decklid spoiler and sports leather seats with wood paneling stuff inside the car.  Plus she gets fabulous gas mileage.

Yep, that’s the way I live.  I’m more Nancy Drew in her little blue roadster than Shirley Partridge in her funky van.

•  All of which brings me to the only reason, I suspect, that any of you are still reading this post.  Thanks to all who took the time to comment, but the few gentle readers who guessed correctly are:

•  And now I will leave it up to the winners to tell me if they prefer to be a guest poster here OR have me write a haiku about you that I’ll post here.  The choice is yours.  I await your decisions.

Odds & Ends

/ Ally Bean / 19 Comments

::  I’m waiting at home today while my car, Olivia, is in the shop.  She is a 10 y.o. Honda Accord Coupe.  Yesterday I went in for an oil change, knowing that there’d be more to it than just that.  At ten years there has to be.

Apparently at year 7 something involving the timing belt [belts?] was to be done.  But I didn’t do it then.  Probably because no one at the dealership told me to do it.  Whatever.

So I’m having it done now.  And this, people, is why I like Honda Accords.  They are very forgiving about maintenance schedules, which is a good thing when they belong to a person such as me.  That would be a woman who means well, but often forgets to have the oil changed on a timely basis.  A woman who maintains her car based on whims– and prayers.

::  I got a new slow cooker [aka crock pot] for Christmas.  Did I tell you this before?  Probably not.  Exciting news such as that I usually keep to myself because I wouldn’t want you, gentle readers, to be jealous of my good fortune!

My new slow cooker is shiny and bright red– and works about a hundred times better than the old one.  Considering that I have the time today, I’m going to research some new recipes to make in it.  Clearly I know what herbs +  spices are available in our kitchen.  Plus we have a busy weekend coming up, so fixing and forgetting a meal sounds like a good thing to do.

Anyone got a favorite slow cooker recipe that I should know about?

::  I’ve mentioned this before but as a refresher: Murphy Brown had Eldon, the painter– while I have Greg, the landscaper.  And it being on the cusp of spring here, Greg has been in touch.  Actually he first phoned me in January, but I dodged his calls because I didn’t want to talk about gardening.  Couldn’t I just have one month off?

However, Greg is nothing if not clever.  He started emailing Zen-Den, who then started forwarding me photos of shrubs and bushes and such– so that I’d decide a thing, or two, about this year’s spring garden clean-up & replacement ideas.  [We’ve been at this residence close to 14 years now, so lots of the original bushes are near the end of their vitality.]

And you know what?  Much to my surprise I’m rather pleased to be looking at photos of + details about green growing things.  I think that I’m ready for spring.