In the blink of an eye

 Well, with one exception, it was a pretty uneventful week at Rancho Juvat.  The exception? I made some progress on my "Minor Project" portion of my "All Projects" list with the completion of a couple of chores that, at the time, were low priority.  However, they had the potential to cause great consternation, fury and expense were they to erupt.

First, I installed the TV in our second Guest House, now being inhabited by DIL and GrandDog, Tex.  Tex has been growling at me a bit every time I stopped by, wondering when he was going to be able to watch re-runs of "Rin Tin Tin" and "The Westminster Dog Show".   Not wishing to annoy a German Shepherd, I gladly conceded to his request for priority.

Upon completion of said task, I began a Sisyphus-like task of trying to eliminate Texas Thistle (also called Bull Thistle) from the yards and surrounding area of the Guest Houses.

Source

I'm not a gardener by trade, but what I've learned (The hard way, Beans, the hard way) is this little Thistle begins life under ground as a seed. After it germinates it sticks a minute little stem above the ground for light and oxygen. So far, so good, just like any other plant right?

Not a chance! At that point it then sends a root down to the very core of the earth and wraps the root around it.  This does two things for the plant.  First, when you touch those thistle thorns, they convey the heat from the core directly into your unfortunate finger, causing you to say "Bad Words".  

Second, it is nigh on to impossible to pull the  *!***!!! thing up.

See what I mean about "Bad Words"?

But I did manage to eliminate any visual (aka above surface) evidence of said plants in the two yards.  Tex was very happy about that also.  He informed me that while touching the spines with a hand could be compensated for by wearing gloves (he added the word "Dummy" to that sentence), the effect was much worse when stepped on by a large German Shepherd.

So....As I said... progress.  Or not!  At the same time I removed two items from the list, five new items were added.  A 250% increase, not quite as high as the official CDC Covid infection rate in States with Republican leadership, but still high.

"Stay on Target, juvat!"

On Target, Aye, Sarge.

While on Active Duty, I'd always heard folks describe flying as "... hours of boredom interrupted by moments of sheer terror."  Those folks never flew Fighters.  Flying a fighter was 15 minutes of boredom, followed by 30 minutes of intense exhilaration, followed by 15 minutes of boredom.  Somewhat frequently interspersed with moments of sheer terror.

But...it's been a while since I've experienced any of those phases of flight.

Well, until last Thursday.

Mrs J and I are headed into "The 'Burg" to run a few errands.  It's about 3ish and traffic is moderate, but moving at the speed limit.  We are in the middle of an S turn and about to enter the second turn of it.  I've got two cars behind me, a little closer than I'd like, but not too bad.  

Locally, it's known as Dead Man's Curve.  Apparently, in the mid-90's a foursome of local HS girls was returning from the next town south, entered the Curve a little too fast, lost control and that was that.  

Hears what it looks like from where I was at the start of this "Adventure".

Imagine that white vehicle in the center is an older model minivan, also white.  It's driven by a female which isn't germane to the story other than one factor which I'll address shortly.  If you look just beyond the dark car in the right lane, that tree is where the minivan first came into my field of view.

It was very nose low, but still traveling fast and further to her right, on the shoulder.  I take my foot off the gas, but don't hit the brakes because of the guys following.  As I do and she's now at the position of the white vehicle in the picture, I realize she's now pointing directly at me and coming into my lane.  

I start to move for the brakes, but realize there's no way I can stop in time and most likely neither can she. So, I flick the wheel to the right, and then immediately back to straight.  I exit the shoulder and end up on the grass with a short excursion airborne as I cross the ditch.

Now, there's three complicating factors I'm encountering at the moment.  First there's a concrete drain  (the white spot to the right of the dark car) I don't want to enter.  Second, there's fairly sturdy Oak Trees to the right and third, the Pedernales river is to the right of the trees. It's not too deep at that point, but it's pretty far down. I don't want to encounter any of these.

In the split second that's elapsed, I'd taken a look at the minivan.  I'm close enough to see that she's a young woman.  With Blue Eyes!

I hit the brakes and steer towards the grass to the left of the drain, as the two guys behind me pass on the shoulder.  I'm now at a dead stop. Looking around, I can't see the minivan around the corner, so have no idea what happened to her (There's a rest stop at that curve, there was no vehicle or persons in it when I passed by on RTB.)  But, I can't see if anybody is coming around the corner either.  

That's my tracks in the grass. Photo taken Sunday.  I believe one of her skid marks is the line just to the left of the grass at the curve itself.
I'd rather be lucky than good!

I'm also in need of breath, so I pause in the grass for a minute.  

Enjoying life.

At this point, Mrs J pipes up with "That was fun, but let's not do it again."

Gotta love her!

After I had mumbled a few hundred thousand "Thank you's" to the Big Guy, we went about our business.

On a lighter note, the semi-annual hummingbird migration is in full swing as they make their way from Central America to the upper Mid-West and Canada.  Mrs J's Nectar recipe must be getting rave reviews as more and more stop by daily.  It makes for some interesting photo ops.

Hummers: "Isn't Mrs J's nectar divine?"
Schnmedly: "I seeeee you!"

Hummer's:  "Where're are you off to in such a rush, can't you see he's behind a fence?"
Schmedly: "Dammit!"

Peace out, y'all.  Enjoy life, you never know when.....