COMMON MATTERS

Fires, Bugs and Other Alarming Things

Today I threw out a recycled Gatorade bottle which housed my granddaughters' grasshopper and bug collection.  As I tossed the bottle, the little air-holes for the now-dead bugs made me think I should tell you about a night last week. 

After writing all day long, a dozen ideas buzzed through my mind about the devotional book I am writing.  My eyes looked like mosquitoes had ice-skated on my eyeballs all day.  I was tired.  I took my nightly Cetirizine to ward off Oklahoma allergies and popped a magnesium-laced calcium tab to deter leg-cramps.  One last sip of water and I lay back in my Posturpedic bed and adjusted it to fit the comfort I needed for a good night's rest.  Hubby was softly snoring beside me.  He'd already taken his nightly meds and turned in early.  He was bone-tired.  As customary, I put the bed on vibrate for its sleep-lulling hum.  Slowly I counted the inhales and exhales of my breathing.  I was almost in dreamland when a screeching, piercing sound jerked me to attention.  The fire alarm!!  I jumped out of that bed like a frog on a hot grill.  I grabbed my jammy bottoms and stuffed my legs in, as I yelled at my husband.  On the third, "Bob!!", he popped up and yelled, "What? what?"

"The fire alarm is going off!"  I reminded him that our son-in-law told us if that ever went off, to get up and get out of the house ASAP.  You see, our little section of living space connects to my daughter's living space and necessitates a combined fire alarm system should either side have a fire.  Hubby groggily started for the bedroom door to check for a fire.  I said, "Honey!  get your pajamas on!  We have to go outside! Remember?"  He hops into his jammy bottoms as I head to the bathroom to see if I'd left a curling iron on or something.  I'm hoping this is a false alarm.  I'm wondering if the fire is in my daughter's house.  I jerked open the door and my grandson (our fireman), pushes inside and asks if we have a fire.  I assure him it is not us.  After he double-checks to see if I am right or demented, he leaves.  There is no fire, so we all go back to bed.  I felt so bad for my hubby who'd been sleeping so peacefully, and hadn't even heard the piercing screech of that alarm on our bedroom ceiling.  I couldn't believe it took me three yells to waken him amid the sound of that alarm.  But it did.  We both crawled back into the bed and I restarted the vibrator to woo me to sleep as I chuckled at the comedy of it all in light of no real disaster.

The next day, I asked my daughter what in the world made that alarm blast us all awake the night before.  She said my grandson thinks a bug of some kind crawled inside one of the tiny holes and set it off.  I never really thought I'd be writing about how paradoxically irritated and grateful I am for a bug.  However, the alternative of the alarm sounding because of a fire, makes bugs sound pretty good.  I did wonder though as I tossed out the Gatorade bottle filled with dead grasshoppers.  Had some other little insect been inside their residence and crawled out an escape hatch and into the alarm and caused the chaos and lost sleep for us?  I don't know.  But I think this grandma is going to insist on bugs in bottle remain outside from this day forward.  Just to be safe.

Gripes, Grumbles, and Gratitude

Hubby woke me early this morning so I could take him to work.  I hate when I have to be wakened.  I feel like my brain is still asleep as I waddle about the day.  I prefer to let my mind wake up on its own. This morning I was dreaming I couldn't find my wallet.  You know that horrid feeling inside you when you realize you've left something valuable in a place and forgotten it?  That's how I felt when Hubs woke me.  Not a good feeling to start the day.

It made me wonder if that's how my grandson felt when he went to the water-park on Saturday and discovered someone stole his wallet out of his towel bag.  Within a few hours, thieves had racked up four tanks of gas and a huge bill at Arby's on his debit card.  It's bad enough they stole the wallet and took his cash.  But they had the audacity to take four cars to Stripes and treat everyone to supper, too.  His wallet contained info on his vocation as a fireman.  These same people will be the first ones to complain if firemen don't get to their house fast enough to put out their fires.

Looks like Obama thinks he is above the law, too. Though he swore to uphold the law, he signed an executive order to not deport any adult children whose parents brought them into the country illegally.  Obama knows full well his orders overstep our legal system's checks and balances of government.  He doesn't care.  He wants the Latino vote in November.  I guess ya can't blame Obama for overstepping his authority; he's just taking a cue from his Attorney General, Eric Holder, who won't comply with orders from Congress regarding the Fast-and-Furious debacle.  It's so bad that legislators are calling for the Attorney General to resign. But hey, the A.G. may just be doing what the president wants him to do--keeping secrets where none should be kept.  Who knows?  

Of course, the leaks from top officials in Obama's Administration that threaten our national security are a different matter.  It's okay to leak top secret information in wartime as long as Obama appears macho on Foreign policy.  The President was annoyed that anyone could think his people would leak he had a "Kill List" for terrorists, or that we collaborated with Israel in cyber-warfare to hack into Iran's computer system and shut down their nuclear production.  Didn't matter that folks know about it, I suppose.

I'm just grateful the Lord watches over His faithful and heeds the prayers of His people.  If He didn't, America would be toast.  Yesterday at church, one dear grandmother in our department expressed deep gratitude for our prayers for her grandson in Afghanistan.  Seems an IED exploded beneath his vehicle and took off the whole front portion of his truck.  He was manning the gun and strapped into his harness or he would have been blown out of the seat.  As it was, no one was hurt.  Despite the stupidity of some in high places, we have a God in Higher places watching out for those we pray for.  I'm grateful, too.

As my grandson carefully released water from one of the city fire hydrants, the pressure blew the cap off the thing.  Had my grandson been standing over it, it would have taken his head off.  My other grandson stood at his work, and watched tons of rock come crashing through a bin that someone failed to notice in time to stop.  I'm so grateful he wasn't hurt.

We gripe, I grumble, and at times I shake my head in dismay at what goes on in our country.  But I am truly grateful today for God's daily protection for loved ones.  I pray yours are safe this week.  It's a dangerous world out there.

Accidents Happen

I like them better when they do not happen to me.  But no one means to have an accident; most folks don't run into other folks on purpose.  That's why we call them accidents.

The sight was not pretty as swarms of swimmers made their way out to the parking lot when a thunderstorm caused the Water-Park to close down.  I know getting wet is the purpose of going to a water-park.  Yet cold rain pummeling your face is not all that refreshing.  I felt like a wet dog when I crawled inside my Prius.  I started to back out of my space and a woman and her children ran out behind my car.  I hit my brakes and took a deep breath.  Why was the mother in front of her kids?  I looked several times before moving.  The last thing I wanted was to run over someone.  Slowly, I inched out and into the lane to leave the lot.

A car backed out in front of me, and I waited.  As it moved along, I followed creeping at about 5 mph.  He stopped and so did I.  Simultaneously I saw out my side window that another car was backing out; if it didn't stop it was going to hit me broadside.  I had no where to go.  The car in front of me kept me from speeding forward.  Before I could honk, the car crunched my passenger side.  My mind raced.  Not again.  Out of the car came a lady dressed in complete Muslim attire; her head tightly wrapped.  I'd seen her and her friends earlier.  Three ladies fully clothed and covered, with several children in bathing suits.  I wondered if she could speak English.  I rolled down the window and she said, "Oh, good.  No one is hurt!  Didn't you see me backing out?"

My brain went into overdrive.  Did she think I was at fault when my car was directly behind her when started she backing out?  I said, "Ma'am, you ran into me!"  Apologies came as fast and furiously as the rain on my windshield.  I said, "I need your name and number."  She went beserk.  "No, no, no.  No one was hurt, your car has no damage."   I'm still sitting behind the wheel.  Is she kidding me? There's no way my car is not damaged.  I got out to look--I felt the impact.  All I can say is whatever Toyota makes their doors out of is like rubber. There was a scrape and a small dent.  We all know, small dents still cost hundreds to repair.  I couldn't tell if something  beneath was damaged, so I told the lady I still needed her license and insurance info.  She went ballistic again.  "No, no, no.  I don't have insurance.  I leave today.  I have no number.  I just came to see my friends and say good-bye.  You don't want me to go to jail, do you?  I told you I am sorry," she pleaded and offered me a hundred dollars.

My mind turned somersaults.  Is this lady for real?  Doesn't she realize she just hit someone? she doesn't want to give me her name?  Suddenly, it dawned on me. She was overwhelmed with fear.  Maybe she's afraid her husband will be angry. I didn't know.  But it was as if God said, don't worry about it.  So I looked at her and said, "Forget about it."  She bowed several times and said "thank-you, thank-you".  I didn't have the heart to cause her any grief.  On the way home I thought, my husband's gonna kill me.  He'll think I was nuts to let her go without a name, a license number or anything. Then I thought, no, when I tell him, he'll understand.  I figured God will work it all out on my end.  After all, accidents happen.