Huge amounts of rambling & a Gopher Tortoise.

So you know how I think that blogging is way fun, and I want to do it pretty much every time something happens? Well, there is a glitch. It is called: amount. It is also called: TIME, but we will skip that one for now.

The "amount" glitch is this - about 98. 3 percent of all the fun stuff that happens to me, or I see happen, can be condensed into one short paragraph, say: Jean sees friend stumble and fall into water puddle, friend glares at Jean while Jean dies laughing, Jean gets wet. See that? Not even a paragraph, we could do it in a sentence!, OR say, it could also go along the lines of some very, very long lecture/book/no-one really cares/we'll call it a lovely story that runs between 2 and three pages long full of commentary by yours truly, and hilarious moments that are only funny also to yours truly, and lots of moments that really mean nothing. (kind of like this paragraph)

Are you beginning to understand this problem? Ok...so, the thing is...like I said...98.3% of all this ... is short. Unless you want it the long way, and while I love it long, most people love the shorter version. And there really is no other answer for it, unless you want a lecture/aka: nice story, except - posting it with some sort of title like: Jean's Ramblings, or Jean's Musings, and using phrases like: I digress, and back to the point, and anyways! , which, when I started a blog, everyone that I read on how to do all this told me was the ultimate no-no's. The only other way around it ... is to just compress a whole bunch of lovely somethings into a really random/ good and bad/this is my life and I like it/guess what happened to me today/one-to-two sentence nothings.

And so that's what I'm doing ... welcome to "Nothing Tuesdays". No, wait. I was joking. Or maybe I could do that....hmm. Anyways! OOPS...I didn't do that, did I? Heh heh...wait, this is MY blog! ;) Ok - welcome to some long and short of Jean ... out of the 98.3% of my life.

Monday -

* Wal-Mart - Yes, it is possible to put too much cinnamon scented fall plastic floral arrangements in one tiny area, causing people passing by to stagger and have instant headaches/brain trauma.

b. Oh, and secondly, this is FL, not Wyoming, we don't get fall until December, after the first frost has killed the leaves, so thinking that people are going to buy fall floral deco in summer is just crazy.

c. Do you think it is slightly possible to have too many types of goggles? Maybe? Because I know that for me, I stood in front of the 45 different selections for about 20 minutes trying to find the one most like the ones that I used to have, before an angry wave ripped them from a friend, and even though Dad prayed his pair back in Maui, it just wasn't so with the Flagler wave. Sigh. Back to the selections - please stop making everything "best performance goggles" because now I don't know which one really is, because you labeled them ALL that.

* To every "super" store in T-ville, let me tell you that not selling boogie boards while it is still summer is a mass oversight. Mass oversight, I say. People, like me, still need to buy boards because some of ours broke earlier this summer, and as it is still summer, I need another one.

* Target - I overheard a dad telling his son: "Things are here for people to buy, not for you to try.... there's a difference." HAHA! Good rhyme, I thought. :)

b. To the kids screaming in Spanish in Target and throwing shoes, I had a good laugh at your expense, even though I have no idea what you were saying.

* Gas Station - Older man who smiled at me, and commented on the price of gas, thank you for the smiles, even though I have no idea why I was the receiver of them, it was still nice.

Tuesday -

* I officially have the best piano teacher ever. Bar none. Not only does she teach me music, but she also listens to my day, pats me on the shoulder, and calls out "Love you too!" when I leave. I will stop, because I know you all are jealous of me now. :) Haha. I love you, Mrs. D.!

* I saved a Gopher Tortoise today. Ok ok, so I helped save it. I was sitting at a stop-sign about to get onto a State road, and noticed the tortoise heading in that same direction. Horrified, I imagined it being crushed into shards before my eyes, and I considered pulling over, but, seeing as it wanted to go to the other side, I knew that it would just try again later, plus, I can still hear my parent's warnings ringing in my ears about pulling to park in ditches and just parking at a stop sign.

It was then that I noticed the Man. He also saw the turtle (yes, I'm calling it a turtle, it's easier and faster, and it's what we call it here anyways), and when he noticed I had really stopped, he looked at me, and I waved and pointed at the turtle, and silently questioned if he was going to pick it up. While he looked at the turtle, I considered once again pulling over and doing the fun honors, but then again I heard my parent's voices in my ears being vaguely displeased over joining this man in picking up a turtle and crossing some traffic. Yeah. I know. So I put the car in park, and checked to make sure the doors were locked (they were). He was not exactly a business father-like man. This man had a handlebar mustache that drooped in white glory past his chin, making me think of Custer, and lived-in jeans, sported a deep tan, looked like he'd seen many a turtle, and had a small smile when he realized I wasn't going to leave until he had rescued the turtle.

And so he did. He walked over, and picked up the turtle, which frantically waved its legs to get put down, and refused to retract into its shell. I watched and waited in fierce protection, and slowly followed (stop gasping, Momma, I was safe, I promise) across all five lanes of traffic, as he walked over and put the turtle into the woods. He looked over and I thanked him with a wave, and he smiled and gave me the "Ma'am" nod, and I drove away happy and thankful for kind men who have pity on animals. Because that turtle wouldn't have even been good roadkill after a few semi's crushed and smashed it...I know, because I have seen it. It ain't perty. (isn't pretty, since Momma might read this, and she don't (doesn't) like Country-talkin' all the time). And that is how I helped save a turtle today.

* I also sang along at the top of my lungs to "Good Directions and Turnip Greens" as I drove back home, and smiled at every single car I passed, thinking about the not-so-little turtle we'd just saved.

* As I drove past the Feed and Seed Store, I saw the words "hunting ... fishing ... farming", and I wondered if they had boots, but I didn't really want to walk into there and ask. I'll leave it for another time, especially because if they didn't, asking where I could find some just sounds sooo ... city girl. Which I'm totally not. Except for a little.

* It rained this afternoon. Not just cats and dogs ... we ain't got dat down here ... this one was a real frog-strangler. A gully-washer. I have it on good authority that a friend a mile away was seeing whales and dolphins fall out of the sky, and we had sea lions and sea horses over here, so I think that we both got great ends of the deal, which brings me to the next point -

* I went out to place a bucket under the roof's streams of water while it poured, to conserve water you know, for the patio plants, and I wore an over-sized rain jacket and my wellies. It was raining so hard that the water was splashing up off the pavement onto my capris and getting my knees wet. Truly. I went to put it down, the lightning flashed and sizzled, and I noticed my hand was touching the metal ring handle on the bucket. (Ohh bad. BAD...wait for it, waaiiit for it.) That thunder cracked so loud, it was less than a half of a mile away, and I gingerly set the bucket down and laughed nervously - heh heh heh. Then I went inside to the sound of my Momma laughing. Nice.

* Only 20 minutes later, I went out to switch out this bucket with a fresh one, and could not resist the urge. I put my face underneath the stream of water coming off the roof, and let the water splash onto it, and onto my tongue. I did NOT heed the ringing warnings in my ears of my Momma on drinking the water that comes off the roof (something along the lines of: think of what that water has touched - dirty roof, tar, air pollution, airplane wings, etc), and then ... oh, wait. I did sort of heed it. I spit the water back out, but ohh, the water was so cold on my face a smile burst out and wouldn't go away. :D

* Dad called to tell us he was a'headin' home, and I talked rather fervently of the rain, and how much it was coming down, and he told me to look it up on the radar, and all of a sudden he was quiet, and I was like "Oh, hold on...you wanted Mom.", and I handed Mom the phone and said "Here. I think he's bewildered by my lack of social skills.", and when Mom got on the phone, Dad said - "Who let her loose?". Haha, Dad, thanks. :D

And that was my day. Or rather, that was my two days, of events, and I'm sure much, much more happened, that may or may not fall into the other 1.7% of amazing things, but it is late, and this is all I can write for now. And because you won't be satisfied if I don't put a picture up, then I will.

Reminders of yet another rainy day -
And that is all for now, dear people that stick with me through hilarious moments of my life that are only really mostly funny to me, but I love to share them anyway. (that was not even a compound sentence, I think that would blow grammar from the water) Hah. I am amazing that way.

God bless and keep you, and make His face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you, and give you peace.

And may you find joy in the little things ... because even if there isn't always a turtle right there, or your favorite country song on, there's almost always a smile to be given, or a nod to be received.

... and that was your moral of the day. Haha. :)

I love you, friends!

Thankfully, gratefully, and slightly giddy,
~ Jean Marie

P.S. Oh! And to think I almost forgot to tell you - the other night I was singing "Puppy Love" to our little doggie, and giggling at my hilarious pun on the song, but the little doggie looked less than impressed, and gave me a wet lick/kiss at the end. Does this reflect her love of my singing? Hmmm. I resent myself even typing that.

P.P.S. Oh, and Happy September 1st, 2009!!!! :D Fall is coming! Or not.