Moms never seem to stop worrying, even when you are grown. It’s her nature to worry about her children. I recently took Mom on one of my birding photography trips.
On the way to the Northwest Alabama Birding Trial Site 5 near Leighton, I noticed some egrets in an area the locals call Gnat Pond and pulled off the side of the road. There was enough room between the road and the pond, but there was a sharp drop off on Mom’s side a few feet out, and she kept saying, “You are going to fall in.” When I got back in the truck after taking my photographs, she was worried that the truck was going to slide down the hill.
At Site No. 5, as I pull off the west side of road, “You are going to get a flat.” A little piece down the road I pulled off on the east side next to the pond, and opened the door to get out. “You’re going to get snake bit,” she said.
I had mentioned in one of my previous posts that Mom got an adult tricycle for Christmas. Since it had free shipping, I had it shipped directly to her house instead of store pick-up. If I had known how many pieces there were to put together, I would have had it shipped to the store and paid the $10 to have it put together. I expected to put everything together except for the wheels and had a rude awakening when I opened the box to get out the assembly manual to see what tools where needed.
I promised her I would put it together right after a friend’s 70th birthday party at my house. The house was a wreck and it was going to take some work to put things back in order after all the remodeling on the garden room, fireplace and front porch.
Since it was a tricycle, the frame was in two parts. We got the two parts lined up and bolted together. Then I realized that the back piece was upside down, so it was disassembled and turned over and bolted one more time. I told Mom it was good that I noticed now instead of when I had everything together and couldn’t get the basket on the bottom.
We got the three wheels on and moved to the fenders. The front one was a piece of cake; however, the first back one just wouldn’t line up with the holes in the frame. Mom kept working and working and it wouldn’t go. I asked her to let me have at it, but she was determined she was going to get it on. While she was working on it, I tackled the other fender and when I got it bolted on, I asked her if she’s giving up yet. She finally decided that she wasn’t going to get it on and let me have it.
After getting everything together, the front brake wasn’t working right; after playing with it for a while, I decided to call the company and work on it later and get the height of the seat adjusted for her. She tried to take it for a spin but it wasn’t going anywhere. I finally noticed that the fender that we had so much trouble with was rubbing on the side of the tire. We got that fixed and went back to the brake. About that time Peggy and George, neighbors and high school classmates, drove up. George almost died on us last year when he had the flu that developed into pneumonia. Being a smoker didn’t help and his doctor said there wasn’t anything else to be done. He was sent down to UAB and placed on Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) and after many prayers came home several weeks later.
George sat down and took the brake apart and got it back together right, and Mom was ready for a spin.
On the Hooligan front, Blackie still is having problems with some sort of allergy. I’ve switched her to grain-free food and biscuits, but she is still having problems with scratching and hair loss. Since she is constantly digging after critters, I’m beginning to wonder if it’s an allergic reaction to fire ant bites.
Locally, farmers are getting corn planted very late this year. We had more than 11 inches of rain in April. Everyone’s yard and flower bed are overgrown. I ended up planting my cabbage and Brussels sprouts in my flower beds. Here it’s almost the middle of May and I’m still not able to get my garden plowed up. Wheat is starting to get a gold tint, and canola has bloom out, so combining should start soon.
The Natchez Trace Parkway Association celebrates the 200th anniversary of Andrew Jackson’s War of 1812 victory with a series of victory balls in New Orleans, Natchez, Tuscumbia and Nashville. Tuscumbia’s will be in June at Locust Hills. As one of the photographers for the event in all four Shoals cities, I was worried about keeping up and said I was going to need a skateboard. A suggestion was made to ride a horse. I said that would work, I know how to ride a horse. When I mentioned it to Mom, she said, “It’s been a long time since you have been on one.”
Moms never stop worrying, and that’s what makes them so special.
