stereoman's Blog

So many good things being born this spring! I'm all kinds of excited!

My business got a new commercial client, a bus tour company. I've never worked on buses before, but apparently they've not been able to find anyone to do what I can do, 'cause they were about a half step over mighty friendly when I finished working for them last week. Took me almost five hours to figure the beast out - only because another tech had worked on it right before me and screwed it up - and when I was done, I had a cordial chat with the owner, ending with (my favorite thing to hear from a client at the end of a job) "thank you here's money".

Groovy. But it gets better. Read on.

I didn't get much gardening done this weekend, I was gone from Friday afternoon to late Saturday night - to Atlanta for a meeting, driving in pouring rain most of the way there and back again. New cliche for driving in heavy rain: "Why it rained so hard, it busted my windshield wiper!" True. I had to pull over under an overpass (much easier than pulling under over and underpass, and drier) and fix it whilst the tractor trailers whizzed heavy fans of rain spray over top of my car.

Thanks be for my Saturn! With two passengers and gear, I got 36 mpg despite the rain. WOOHOO!  I love my car.

I had a wonderful time in Atlanta. Our hosts on Friday night were a young couple, very devoted to one another and to the practice of their faith, deeply committed to their community, accommodating to their guests, kind and generous to their neighbors, just generally a joy to make the acquaintance of. A sure fire way to instill hope for the future is to meet young people like these!

When I got home, there was a box waiting for me from Park Seed Company. Guess what? My blueberries! YAAAY! I unpacked them immediately, set them on the dining room table (we seldom eat on it because it's always cluttered with my crap), petted them and told them how happy I was to see them.

Sunday morning I couldn't wait to get up and outside. The rain had finally come to a end, and the sun was filtering through the thinning clouds. I could feel its warmth even so shortly after sunrise. In the back garden I was delighted to find that the incessant soaking rains had coaxed dozens, scores, maybe hundreds of carrots up through the mulch. It looks as though almost every seed I put down has germinated! In the front, my cream colored tulips were blooming, and I found a patch of violets crowded with deep purple blossoms.

In the front bed, my stand of flame tulips was just beginning to open. They are so spectacular this year! A neighbor passed with her dogs. "Pretty tulips," she said. "Aren't they!" I glowed, too gushingly proud to say thanks. Sheesh.

Over at the end of the bed, I'd prepared the spot for the first blueberry bush, the beginning of my edible boundary. I scooped out a crater in the mound of freshly turned soil mixed with leaf compost. I could feel warmth in the soil, warmth already and it's only the beginning of April!

When I got home from Sunday Meeting, there was no time to garden. We had to hurry up and get ready for a much more important event - the first Sunday afternoon home game for our semi-pro baseball team, the Asheville Tourists! We got there just in time to hear the announcer say that the game had been delayed one hour so the filed could be dried out a little further. Drat! but it was a terrific game. Our guys won it 6-5. The visitors were behind by two going into the ninth, led off with a homer, then got two runners on base with two outs before our big lanky closer ended the rally with a big fat K!

Best of all, who should I run into on the way to the concession stand but my new client, the owner of the tour bus company! We greeted each other, he told me he had an emergency and could I come out in the morning. I said I already had an appointment but I felt sure I could squeeze him in before noon. Later in the game, he came up from his box to our seats in the general admission section. He told me he had season tickets, and didn't use them very much. Call him anytime, he said, and we could use his tickets.

He likes me. My new client likes me!

Finally when we got home, I got a chance to plant the first blueberry.

It's a giant leap for stereoman-kind!