It’s been kind of a tough month. I had a bad flare and couldn’t knit, I suffered through an annoying 30-day heart monitor test, and then there was Thanksgiving. I’ve been slowing clawing my way back from the flare over several weeks, and finally last week I started to feel pretty much like myself again. I even made several hats on my Sentro knitting machine using a power screwdriver to turn the crank for me.
I pruned and fed the plants in the indoor garden. Gosh, they really look a lot nicer. Look at how nicely the lavender plants cleaned up.
The miniature roses had gotten pretty bushy, and I kept seeing some aphids on the new growth. I aggressively pruned the plants back to remove more than half of the growth, sprayed the plants well with Neem oil, and then gave them some fertilizer. They look somewhat sparse now, but the new growth is good and I’m not seeing aphids. I really needed to get the size of the plants under control anyway as they were getting close to the top of the growing space under the grow lights.
There aren’t any new rose buds yet, but I think that this was a good course of action to manage the aphids. Some of my other plants have started to put out blooms, the African violets being the stars of the month.
So, the indoor garden is looking pretty good, and the difficult month was finally coming to an end. My wrists still hurt, but I was definitely on the way back to “normalish”. I decided to head out to buy a fast-food hamburger treat for myself Tuesday evening. I love these little trips out of the house; each one is a little adventure that really perks me up.
This trip was really something, a surreal adventure that is still playing out.
I had just cleaned out my car (Stumpy) a couple of days before, and before I left on my outing, I gave him a fast little vacuum job and brought in the trash cans from the street. Gosh, Stumpy looked good! I took off to the hamburger joint where I scored my favorite burger, some onion rings, and a chocolate shake. This is a lot of fat and salt, and I was going to have it anyway!!! Did I mention that my server looked just like Dylon on The Great British Bake Off? He gave me a coupon for free ice cream if I completed an online review of the food/service. Yay! Free ice cream!! On the way back I sneaked some onion rings from the bag as I drove past the high school where I used to work. It was early evening, and there was a car parked along the street above the sports stadium and field, the driver packing things into the back of his car. Someone finishing up sport practice, I thought to myself as I went by. Still looking at the school, I remembered how much I loved working there, how much I loved the kids, how much I loved the greenhouse attached to my classroom…
I had to stop at the light at the intersection by the school, and I remember that I was very focused on the oncoming cars before I started moving with the green light because… high school intersection… crazy new drivers… must be careful…
The light changed, I slowly started out, and there was a sudden flash of light and movement to my left as I crossed the intersection. I was hit by a car that had run the red light; poor Stumpy was sent careening across the intersection and ended up dropped onto the median of the street I had been crossing, now facing directly at my old classroom and its greenhouse. Kind of ironic, right? The collusion alert system in the car immediately activated and there was a voice checking on me and calling for emergence responders. A witness arrived soon after to help, and a teenaged girl started directing traffic. The witness was a Lacrosse coach, and I wondered if he was the driver packing up his car when I passed him by the sports field. The fire department arrived with paramedics who got me out of the car (taking my car keys out of my hand and leaving them with the car), into an ambulance, and off we went to the nearest hospital with an emergency department: I had some serious chest pain going and my blood pressure was something else. “Don’t worry,” said the paramedics.” We got your food for you out of the car”. Did I mention that this was a little surreal? “Did you know that you were hit by a Humvee?” Yep. Surreal.
So, I had a great little emergency room visit. I had some testing that determined that I wasn’t having a heart attack, but I did have a couple of broken ribs. The interactions with the trauma physician were kind of hilarious as she didn’t quite know what to make of my CT results… “you have a lot of interesting structures in your lungs,” she told me. “You seem kind of dry… you need to drink more water.” Whatever. It must be the diuretic that my doctors prescribed because they are more concerned about some other things going on… like pulmonary edema… and heart failure… somehow, she focused on the wonky kidney results and didn’t notice the rest. Have I mentioned surreal? I had called my son to come get me home because I didn’t have a car or door keys any longer, and he packed me up and got me out of there at that point. Five hours after picking up my fast-food, I finally started home again with my son, a little wobbly, drugged up on pain killers, and still in possession of my hamburger. I ate a couple of the cold onion rings in the car as he drove through the night…
…and the phone rang. The police finally called. They were with Stumpy, and he was now in the parking lot of the high school where I used to work, right outside the door I used every morning next to my old classroom. We turned around and headed back to the police at the accident scene to make my statement and to get the house keys out of the car. The police officer was wonderful; she was still making her way through all the calls and witness reports, but it absolutely looked like I had been hit by a driver who illegally ran the light. She made the arrangements for the car to be towed and stayed with it for me. I ended up hugging that officer and giving her an audible book recommendation. My chocolate milkshake was in the Stumpy’s cupholder, still cold with the straw in it, and I took it back. Of course I did. As we drove away the officer was doing a search for the book I had mentioned to her. Goodbye old classroom. Goodbye Stumpy car that I loved. Thank you both for all the good times.
Surreal.
Aftermath: My wonderful insurance has stepped up and is handling everything. My neighbors are telling me not to worry about the rental car yet: they will drive me anywhere I want to go. The CT scan at the ER picked up on a couple of issues that I need to follow up on, and I already have new appointments with my doctors to do that: the atelectasis in my lungs is back, and something is going on with my thyroid. Who knows, this all might have been a blessing in disguise.
My wrists are strangely better, and I finished knitting my socks.
My hamburger, when I warmed it up and ate it the next evening, was still delicious!
I found the coupon for the free ice cream when I finally cleaned out Stumpy in the tow lot Friday. I plan to leave a great review…
Stumpy was a 2018 Subaru Forester, and I can’t praise his safety features enough.
Yarn, Books & Roses 
Goodness! What a mess!! I am sorry to hear about your poor car and ribs. You getting the milkshake made me smile. I hope the bad driver wasn’t hurt either. But sheesh! Sending better thoughts your way.
x The Captain
Getting that milkshake back made my day too!!
What can I say ?
If one of the wicked gods decided to involve you in a prang, s/he did you proud – a HumVee !!! Struth, Marilyn, you never do anything by halves, mate !
My guess is that the HumVee driver hasn’t yet managed to be in total control of his giant vehicle; that the running of the light was always going to happen; and that unhappily it was our Marilyn who copped the stupid (_¤_)’s inability to get his foot on the brake pedal in time. Why these vehicles are allowed to be sold to anyone other than the armed forces isn’t a mystery: I’m fairly sure there are many US citizens who would start screaming about the Second Amendment if they became no longer available.
So how are you now, after your indeed extremely surreal outing ? Have Hannah and Mateo been sufficiently sympathetic ? How bruised and bent is your poor body ? – we observe your spirit to be neither, you wonderful woman !
I’m pretty sure that this was a distracted driver situation as there were no horn or brake noises, and the witness at the scene told me that he saw the whole thing, and that he just came through at high speed and made no effort to evade. I’m so grateful for the people who made statements and called into 911. I’m pretty sore and bruised. I was wearing the seat belt, and I have all the bruises to prove it!! The side air bag also went off; I think that I may have hit it as the car spun around.
I’m kind of upset about the financial disruption that this is causing, but on the scale of things, I got really lucky.
A Humvee!! The whole thing was just too crazy for words. Thank heavens I got the milkshake back!! 🙂
Ah yes – otherwise it might have been a bit of a disaster … :
And here I thought you said you’d been hit by another car. HumVees are trucks in my book, especially compared to Foresters.
Violets in December! How sweet. Something to enjoy while drinking your milkshakes. Take care of yourself.
I have to say, it wasn’t a fair fight.
You are soooo lucky although still sounds like a lot of healing is needed. HumVees should be illegal! You are right that the Forrester will be totaled because the air bag went off. That’s an automatic “totaled”. Sadly the payout won’t likely cover a replacement SUV. Just went through this with my son’s girlfriend. She had to settle for a used sedan to replace her SUV because she couldn’t afford to spend more than the settlement check.
Gee whiz Marilyn, I’m glad you are okay, your poor car but it could have been worse overall I guess. Take care of yourself xx
Thank goodness you weren’t injured any worse than you are. I’m so glad that none of the cracked ribs punctured your lung. I’m surprised you can use your keyboard with that kind of injury.
Here’s hoping the insurance company comes through for you and you’re able to buy a good Subaru or something else that you like with the proceeds. I always think that the insurance money from wrecks should be called “receeds;” however, I hope that’s not apt where your Forester is concerned. My Forester wagon is 20 years old, and I’d hate to part with it for any reason, so I feel your pain, both physical and emotional.
May your next vehicle have heated seats. They’re an “ahhhh” in my book…unless you accidentally hit the on switch when it’s 107 degrees in summer, as I did.
Thanks for sharing the photos of your happy-looking indoor garden. Thanks, too, for the genius idea to use an electric screw driver to run something that requires a crank.
Stumpy did have heated seats! I absolutely loved them and they are one of the things that I really need in the new car.
The electric screwdriver was suggested by the Sentro user’s manual, and the adapter is sold online. Works great, but it is a little noisy.
To protect your hearing from the noisy Sentro, ask your family if anyone has an extra pair of cheap, contractor-style hearing protector ear muffs. I got mine for leaf blowing and weed whacking at Harbor Freight on sale for $1.99 a few years ago (they’re probably more like $5.00 now – or even more). I just took mine off a while ago after clearing the leaves off the driveway, during which time I didn’t hear my neighbor’s teenaged boy asking if he could do it for me…until he got in front of me, I saw him, and removed the muffs.
I hope your next car or whatever you’ve chosen to replace Stumpy has heated seats! I love mine! I’ll probably use them tomorrow en route to teaching school in the boondocks because it’s forecast to be in the upper 20s, and the wagon is kept outside, not in a warm garage.
I do have some noise cancelling earphones that I can wear while listening to an audiobook, so maybe I will do that.
Oh, Stumpy had heated seats!! The best things ever for someone who battles the cold as they work even while the car is warming up. They are a must for me in the new car.
May the perfect AWD car/suv/wagon with working heated seats and low mileage become available at the right price when you’re ready to buy a replacement vehicle. About Stumpy – I immediately think of someone who needs or uses a prosthetic device when I hear that name mentioned. Did you mention how you decided on it?
There is a movie line in Tremors where a mangled monster worm is referred to as “Stumpy”. When my ex first saw my new car after the divorce (a Toyota RAV4) he used that line, which I took to mean it was smaller (and uglier) than his Jeep Grand Cherokee. Whatever. I embraced the name and my car became Stumpy. When I bought the new Forester years later, he got the same name. Both were just wonderful cars!!
I guess it’s a good thing you didn’t refer to your ex as “Stumpy:” he might’ve taken umbrage. Too bad we couldn’t shop for a husband/sig other like we do cars – kick a few tires, metaphorically speaking, and then turn our backs on it for a more reliable and fitting model, not apt to spit oil or anything else when there’s a minor hitch in its getalong or it doesn’t agree with the gear we’re shifting into. I was tempted to design a tee that said, “My ex is buried in Texas,” but it sounded too tacky for words so I gave that idea up.
May the rest of your week be filled with many interesting, challenge-free moments.
As usual, Marilyn, your sense of humour shines through as you write of what was surely a terrible accident. I hope your ribs heal quickly. You have done well with your indoor garden.
Wow, what an adventure! I’m so glad you are ok.
Oh my! That is quite the adventure. I’m glad you’re able to find the good in it, though, and I hope the milkshake was wonderful.
The violets look lovely! And I’m sure the mini roses will be all the happier soon for their pruning (and lack of aphids).
Yikes!!! It’s scary to get hit like that! I am glad your car was a Subaru. I am so sorry you are going through this. I hope your ribs heal quickly and that you are back on the road again soon.
Your plants look great, and I am happy you are able to knit through this. ❤️
It’s been a week and my ribs are still are pretty unhappy, but the bruises are now faded and I am better. The Subaru really did great, but I am still mourning the loss of a great (paid off, just serviced and registered) car.
Glad that you are okay. It sounds like it could easily have been much worse. I hope that your neighbours are steadfast in their promise to help you out in the gap!
Oh no, Marilyn! I am so glad you are mostly OK! What a terrible thing to have happen just when things were looking up. Heal up quickly and well!!
I’m glad that you’re reasonably okay! You’re lucky that Stumpy was hit on the rear door/quarter panel, not where YOU were sitting. Too close for comfort! Rest easy.
I have a 2017 Impreza; it’s still my “new” car. I kind of wish I had bought a Forester instead; I could use just a tad more room sometimes. But not often.
Your indoor garden looks great. I think my African violet is dying; I accidentally overwatered it last month and it is not bouncing back. Still limp. I’ve had it for a decade of benign neglect, and it has been great.
I have 6 African violets. 4 of them are blooming, one is just doing its own things and producing baby plants, and one died. They are all being treated the same and are in the same environment: I have no idea why one plant just crashed and died. I hope that yours makes a comeback soon.
Poor thing just hasn’t perked up. Leaves still curled and limp. But I’m going to keep it until it really tanks…you never know! Meanwhile, the little fairy orchid someone gave me in 2020 is setting to bloom, again! Usually twice a year. Amazing.
Only one of my orchids is going to bloom this year… I guess they decided to give the stage to the African violets.
Just dropping by to say hi. It’s late, but I was thinking about you.
Thank you so much. I’m still struggling with pain, especially my sternum, which evidently sustained a bone bruise. The settlement letter for the car came today and it is much better than I expected so that part is good!
I hate hearing that you’re still in any pain from the accident, but celebrating the better-than-expected settlement. Stumpy was a hero.
What an experience!! So glad that it wasn’t worse; Stumpy kept you safe. ❤️ Hope you feel better soon.
Oh thank goodness you weren’t injured any worse, especially after taking on a hummer!
Merry Christmas!
Thank you. I hope that your day was a good one.