The Side-View Mirror Incident

I sometimes go to Greencastle to run instead of jogging up and down the country road that we live on.  When I do this, I have a few usual places that I go: Big Walnut Sports Park, Depauw Nature Center, or the People Pathway.
Two days ago, I decided to run around Depauw's campus, because I figured that there wouldn't be any leftover ice/snow/perilous running surfaces.  To accomplish this, I parked on Seminary Street near 231 North, which is just on the edge of campus.  I parked a few spots in on the street and in a place where I figured that no residential car would back into me.  I put in my headphones and went for a run.
30 minutes later I run up to my van and notice that there is a mirror lying on the ground.  I bend over and quickly realize that it looks a lot like the side view mirror of my van.  Then I look up to see that my side view mirror is, indeed, not attached to my van anymore.  The housing of the mirror is still there, but is bent forward to be parallel with the side of the van.  I stand there, in the West bound land of Seminary Street, staring at my damaged vehicle.  I think I stood there for a couple minutes, trying to imagine how anyone could have hit my van when it was the only one parked on a pretty wide street in broad daylight.
My view was something like this:

I snapped out of my imagining session and tried to reattach the mirror.  I plugged in the parts that defrost the mirror and snapped it back in.  Then, as I was trying out the auto-adjust feature from inside the van, a woman pulled up in a van and said "I hit your mirror, let me pull over and get you my insurance info."
From what I gathered in the next 5 minutes, the lady had misjudged the distance between her van and mine as she was driving by and her mirror hit my mirror.  Her mirror broke off completely and was scattered on Seminary Street.  She continued on after hitting my van because I wasn't around and she needed to pick up her son at the library right down the street.  As she returned, she spotted me and waved me down.
Luckily, my van is pretty new and has breakaway side view mirrors, so I don't think there was any damage.  The mirror itself must be unbreakable as well.  
I have to wonder if this would have gone down this way were I parked in Indianapolis? Avon?
I would like to hope so, but know that there are a lot of people driving around with jacked up side view mirrors, so maybe not.
 Anyways, this reminded me of the fact that there are a LOT of honest people out there and I liketo think that Putnam County has quite a few of them.

Yet another smell I forgot about...

Someone came to the realization that you could use radish and turnip as a cover crop after you harvest corn or beans.  I don't know when this happened, but I don't remember this occurring when I was growing up in the Putnam Country area.  I only remember people planting winter wheat.
Today, many a field around here is filled with either radish or turnip or a combination of them.  They have many benefits to the soil, outlined in THIS article I found.  I have recently discovered one of the drawbacks of this method of bringing the nitrogen out of the soil: rotting root vegetables smell horrible.
The stench that these suckers produce as they freeze and thaw throughout the winter is astounding.  I had my windows rolled up and was driving down the road yesterday in the 38 degree weather and nearly threw up from the smell.  Think nasty cabbage fart meets the bottom of a trash can on a hot summer day... that is the smell that those fields produce.
The one benefit of this that I can see is that I run faster when I go on a run and have to jog by one of these nasty fields.  I know that there are environmental benefits as well.... but for now I am really hoping that the farmers around my home will stick to barley or rye as their cover crops.

Hunting

The past couple of months, I have seen my husband plot, plan, and prepare like nothing I have seen since he was finishing his mechanical engineering degree.  Every detail was planned out and every aspect of the event he was preparing for was covered.  In the end, he found success and all of that preparation paid off in the form of three deer's worth of meat in our freezer.
I am also a hunter, but not of anything that breathes.  I hunt deals.  Seriously, I am wired to patiently wait until I know that I have found the best deal for whatever it is that I am currently looking for.  I have been trained in this type of hunting from a young age by my mom, who is also a deal hunter.
Call it frugality, call it too much time on my hands, or call it some aspect of being female.... I love to hunt for a deal.
When I hunt from home, Craigslist is my best friend, as are other social networking sites where I can bargain with friends.  I also am a fan of overstock.com, 6pm.com, and amazon on a good day.  When I hunt outside, I love to go to thrift stores, Big Lots, antique malls, and yard/ garage sales.  The arrival of spring and summer usually mean the end of the cold and are welcomed as such by most people.  I can't wait for spring so that people will finally start posting "yard sale" signs and displaying their goodies for me to dig through.  
Locally, I like to hit up the Goodwill, the consignment shop on the North side of town, the flea market on the North side of town, and random hole in the walls that people have open in a barn on their property.
So..... my husband prepared to hunt and had success.  I have been trained in hunting by my mother and her friends and feel like the proof of my success is in the money that we save and still have nice stuff.  What do you like hunting? 

My Grandmother, who is not so much of a deal hunter as she is a creator of things that people like to buy..... posing with the third deer my husband got this season.

The past month has been....

Thanksgiving and Christmas were especially nice this year.  Here are my top ten reasons why:
10.  Traveling to Napa between the holidays was a nice break from Putnam County and a reminder of how blessed I am to live here.
9. Sherry's butterscotch pie was available multiple times and I live next door. :)
8. Re-homing my dog, despite being very hard for me, was a phenomonal gift to three little girls on Christmas morning.
7. We both have jobs, even if one of them isn't that great.
6.Caroling with the South Putnam girls' basketball team and having my aunt play piano with us.
5. Making Martha Beam's chocolate covered cherries and handing them out to people.
4. My mom's decorations for both Thanksgiving and Christmas look like they are out of a magazine and really made people smile.
3. Being able to see my grandma Eunice with all of her great grandchildren.
2. My son got all excited for his speak and say and could actually open presents.
1. We didn't have to drive 6+ hours to get to see our family.... we live near all of them!

November 17, 2013 - Weather

In Putnam County, it can be 15 degrees one day and 70 the next.  You can't really put your winter or summer clothes away for a season, because you just might need them during a season that you wouldn't ordinarily associate them with.  I was wearing shorts and a t-shirt on my run today.  Last week I had on winter boots and my North Face winter coat with gloves. 
I think that this may be the reason that the closet organizing people are always hanging out at Costco, trying to get me to buy a system that will keep all of my clothes, from shorts and tank tops to Gore-tex pants and sweaters, right at my fingertips.  I do not remember a closet organization person being at the Costco all the time when I lived in Cleveland, where the weather was not quite as bi-polar. 
The other aspect of this crazy weather that actually helps me out is the fact that I know I will still be able to do some of the yard work that I put off in October during some point in November and December.  Inevitably there will be a really warm day or two in December where I can plant the bulbs that I forgot I bought, dig up the cannas that have already half died from freezing, and get those leaves all raked so my grass doesn't die. 
This year I am hoping that the weather is friendly to helping us move down the road into the house we bought.  I have a feeling that the bulk of the move will happen in late December.  I wonder which type of weather will show up?  Fall or Summer or Winter?

October 16, 2013 - Memories and pictures

I was looking at the front bedroom of my husband's grandparents home today and grandpa told me that the painting on the wall was special.  He explained that it was a painting that my husband's mother, Cathy, insisted on buying when she was young.  He said that you just don't get rid of stuff like that.  I nodded and thought of what I hang onto from my sister, from my grandpa, and from my grandma, who, like Cathy, left to go on to be with God. 
Currently I am wearing a pair of pants that my sister used to wear in warm-ups for basketball.  I keep a keychain that my grandpa Ross gave me before he died in my drawer, as I have for the past 25 years.   I have a whole assortment of stuff from my Hurst grandparent's house and can't imagine giving it away.  Oddly enough, even my dog reminds me of my grandma, since she went with me to adopt him in 2008.  I could never get rid of him and the thought of him dying one day will be like grandma dying all over again. 

October 29, 2013 - How Did I End Up Here?

In a strange turn of events, our house hunting adventure has ended us about a half mile from where we currently rent.  We have had our realtor drive all over the Southern portion of the county looking at all sorts of unacceptable housing situations.  We even had a purchase pending inspection, but the inspection revealed some things that the seller wouldn't fix.  It could be fate or the providence of God that the house we are going to buy is one that my husband has talked about from the second date we went on and is currently owned by his grandparents. 
This home isn't ideal for us long-term, but we can make it work for the next few years and not break our bank.  It is in great shape for an old home and includes the woodshop that my husband has drooled over and worked with his grandfather in for the past decade or so.  We are next to many family members and still in the school district that we want to be in.  It is a win. Or, rather, a WIN.
The school district is South Putnam, where both my husband and I graduated from and spent most of our elementary days.  Funny thing is, I just spent a couple hours today volunteering with the girls basketball team.  Guess who the head coach is this year?  MY OLD COACH.
Sometimes things just come full circle and slap you silly in the head.  The house that my son's namesake has lived in for my husbands entire life... and now a team that wears a uniform and playing a game that meant so much to me becoming who I am.