Petunia rambles on and on….

Because it was dead-slow at work today, I managed to hear part of the news on TV.  Apparently, since the tragic bridge collapse in Minneapolis 6 months ago, Delaware has checked our bridges to see if they are fit.   Hmmmm.  The results are in.

“The condition of our inventory is good, and our inspection program is good,” says DelDOT Assistant Director of Design, according to today’s Wilmington (DE) News Journal article.  We have 1,457 bridges in the state and 33 are structurally deficient.”  That’s only 2.3% and DelDOT is elated.

“In Delaware, 29 bridges are considered “fracture critical,” meaning that if one main component were to fail, the entire bridge could collapse. Of such fracture-critical spans, five are rated as structurally deficient, placing them on a stepped-up inspection schedule.”

Those 5 are listed by name and location.  Gee, I wonder where the other 24 are?   And will I find out first thing tomorrow morning, on my way to work, as I, gulp, drive over the bridge????  

DelDOT.  Aren’t these the same folks that planned the “round-about” outside Middletown?  A traffic circle to manage, uh, traffic?   And they built it too small for tractor trailers and farm equipment to negotiate the arc of the turning radius?  In a rural area full of tractor trailers and large farm equipment?  The smart ones who built the beginnings of a new bridge over the Indian River Inlet, and realized that the footings weren’t gonna hold up?  Uh, lets just scratch all this and start over somewhere else?  Taxpayers, ante up please.

These are the folks that say that the bridge I will drive over tomorrow morning is safe.   Hmmm.  I’m gonna be thinking about all this on Thursday when I gotta drive over that big canal bridge.

Nothing “epic” happened today.  Perhaps that’s good, ’cause for me, “epic” is usually traumatic in some way, at least in my mind. 

My thoughts are usually “random.”  One of the reasons is because, for much of my life, I’ve had the attention span of a gnat.   So….

1. I love baskets.  I hate clutter and usually have this idea that if I put clutter into neat-looking baskets (or containers of some sort), it’ll make things better.  Like the other day when I stopped to get Size 5 DPN needles, and saw these pretty baskets that are fabric-lined.  I thought, I’ve got that spinning stuff in the cardboard box that my WooLee Winder shipped in.  This lining won’t snag roving.   This will work.  And so, of course, I bought one, brought it home, and now I have all my spinning stuff in a pretty basket.  Maybe I did a good thing.  Most of the time, though, clutter in a pretty basket is still clutter. 
2. I like to cook.  I really do.   And what is the most difficult for me about being a full-time day-shift employee is that I don’t have the time to do it as well as I used to, to fiddle over things, or make things with a longer prep or cook time.  And in truth, after a long day, I just don’t feel like doing what I used to do with that level of enjoyment.
3. I used to make popovers and much of our yeast breads.  And home-made pastas. 
4. I can make the best damned gravy you’ve ever had, and the worst, most pathetic-looking pie crust you’ve ever seen.  My mother was so ashamed of my efforts, laughed at me so many times, she who had pie crust ready to flip into the dish in about 10 minutes, she whose pies came out of the oven with a blue ribbon already on them.  I’ve tried so many times, sworn like a longshoreman, wasted ingredients.  Never again.
5. My mother taught me to knit when I was 6 years old.  Back in the day, kids were out of school for 2 full weeks with the chicken pox, and she was probably desperate to keep me occupied.  Within a year or so, she also taught me to crochet, which I liked better.  Having no patience, I wanted something that showed progress faster, and crochet did that for me.   For years, my knitting was an off-and-on thing, and I crocheted much more.  Mom was the knitter.
6. I’ve lived in the Republic of Panama, sailed through the canal, went up and down in the locks.   Then, directly from the tropics, we moved to Upstate New York and almost froze to death up there!!    Also lived in south Florida (Broward County) for years.
7. I am a Journey freak, and still will listen to “Escape” over and over.  Best concert I saw was when they played at Wolf Trap.  Best memory – dancing with tall sons, both of them, when Journey played on the deck at Kahunaville.  I raised them boys on Journey and they take care of their Mama. 
8. I have a best friend.  I haven’t seen her in a long while because of the distance between her house and mine, but we’ve been best friends since 1965.  I’ve measured every friend I’ve ever had up against her, and most come up way short.
9. I wasn’t sure if I would like or really use an iPod much.  But I’m such a gadget freak that I bought one anyway.  And I love it.  I turn off stress by listening to music, podcasts and audiobooks.
10. There’s a place called Bridal Veil Falls, a hell of a hike to get there and then get out again, but worth it.
11. Few things in life could possibly give you as much upset and hurt as kids, or joy, or pride or reason to go on through ugly miserable days, or laughter.
12. I get annoyed at people who leave pots on the stove filled with food, to harden, solidify to where you need a jackhammer to get the damn stuff out.  You know who you are.
13. I am soothed by moving water, someplace where you can hear the movement.  Ocean waves crashing, waterfalls, little creeks where the water burbles around rocks.  Just leave me there, come back for me later.  Much later.
14. Moving water/soothing is counteracted by years of potty-training, where you used running water to try to get kids to pee.  Add in an old bladder, and the natural running water isn’t always such a good thing anymore.  Pop and I looked at fountains, for both indoor and/or out, and he said, You’ll spend too much time in the bathroom.
15. I am terrified of heights.  Frightened beyond belief.  Embarrassingly afraid.  I turn white and jump back, turning away from a “looking down” scene on TV.   I last flew to get back into the US in 1983, swore I’d never get in another plane ever again, and I haven’t.  Terrified the whole time when one of the kids is flying.  Bridges are a challenge and there are some that I just won’t drive over.  I freak riding over them, too, even when someone else is driving.   I don’t do “edges” well, either.  Edges like cliffs, windows in tall buildings, etc.
16. I smoked for over 40 years, and then I quit.  Almost a year now, with not one puff since.
17. I go practically insane when I can’t find something.  I’ll tear the house apart, waste hours of precious time, and work myself into a frenzy trying to find a damn spool of thread.  I could go to the local store and buy another in much less time, for a buck.  This sort of crazy behavior is happening more frequently as my eyesight gets wonkier.  I can’t see if I look from bright places into dark places.  So if something is in a darker spot, I’ll never see it there, and just keep searching and searching until the kids have me put into a home for the “mentally unraveled.”
18. I am superstititious, but to ones of my own design.  I’m not concerned about black cats or ladders or broken mirrors or crap like that.  I make my own up.  People would laugh at me if they knew.  (for yet another reason)
19. I used to like black as a “wardrobe neutral.”  Now, after a lifetime of avoidance, I want brown.  Deep dark chocolate brown.  Brown with red, brown with blue, brown with pink. 
20. I am blind in my right eye.  The doctors think the eye “sees” fine, but there is “debris” inside the eye obscuring almost all sight.  There is a procedure called a vitrectomy that will probably improve my sight dramatically.  Essentially, its an oil change for my eye, flushing out the dirty fluid and replacing it with clean.  The big question is – how long before its all back again?

Here’s a picture.  I had to do this.  I had to bundle all a lot of my roving up, put it all together in a basket out where I’ll see it all 40 zillion times a day.  Perhaps this will keep me from buying more.  And more.  There’s just so much time I can spend on spinning and still keep my job, where clean clothes to work, eat, shower.  And this is a big basket with plenty down in the bottom.  

But isn’t it beautiful?    And there’s the red, white and chocolate brown that I bought up at Vulcan’s Rest, and……

Perhaps not!