Ramblings before the weekend

The last 24 hours have been very roller-coaster-like.

The Munchkin, Baby Boy and I all went to lunch at Bachan’s yesterday, as is our usual plan on Thursdays. My mom was there, too, and I usually drive her back home. My dad has taken Bachan grocery shopping every Thursday for years now (except when I used to do it over the summers), and now that my mom is working part-time from home, she gets to come along too. But he goes directly to work from Bachan’s, leaving my mom car-less.

So, after lunch, I was driving Mom home via the Bothell post office, so that she could mail some things for work and check the post office box. We were at a four-way stop on Main Street when the van in front of us started through the intersection, and hit an elderly man on a mechanical scooter in the crosswalk.

You know how you hear that when you’re watching something bad that’s just about to happen, and you know it’s going to happen and you can’t do a thing about it, all of a sudden life goes into slow motion?

It’s true.

The van hit the front end of the man’s scooter, knocking the man off it and whipping the scooter around. My mother and I both gasped in horror and dove for our cell phones. The driver of the van immediately stopped and got out, and he had his cell phone out, too.

The irony: the van was a cabulance.

Since we had a front-row seat to the accident, I hit my hazard lights to let people behind me know that something had happened. My mom got out to help – and she’s not a bad person to have on hand, what with her medical training and all. Fortunately, the police station was only two blocks away and the fire station only about five or six blocks away. The ambulance arrived quickly, followed by a fire truck. The police showed up shortly thereafter. By this time, I had pulled into the parking lot of the bank that was right next to the accident, and a guy in an orange jacket (who looked like an off-duty DOT worker) started directing traffic around the accident, detouring people to the right and left, and making sure that people knew where to go.

The police took my mom’s information, and there were plenty of witnesses. When she got back to the car (and a very grouchy Munchkin who wanted to know where Grandma had run off to), she told me that the elderly man was 90 years old, she was worried that he might have a broken hip, and he had a large goose-egg lump on his head that was scratched up and bleeding, but that he was concious and lucid.

I just pray that he’s okay. A 90-year-old is not going to bounce back quickly from this kind of trauma. I also feel bad for the cabulance driver, because this is going to affect him in every part of his life – emotionally (he hit someone), professionally (he was driving a work vehicle and his job is to drive people like this around), and financially (I can’t imagine that he won’t be cited for failure to yield to a pedestrian).

Both my mom and I still feel shaken up by the whole incident. It made me sick to watch the whole thing unfold and to not be able to do anything to prevent it. I wish that we could find out how the elderly man is doing – my mom knows his name, but nothing else. All we can do is pray that he will be well.

*****

WARNING: This part of the post deals with the attempted exermination of a small, furry rodent. If you are sensitive to this kind of bloodthirsty talk, jump down to the next set of ramblings. Carter’s Mom, THIS MEANS YOU. If you choose to continue reading this, I’m not responsible for your reaction.

Yes, the mouse problem (with apologies to Monty Python).

We have mice coming into the garage. This is not good. Apparently, they are getting in through a hole in the concrete floor – there is enough space around a pipe that comes through said hole that the little furry bastards can get through.

Our first clue was the droppings. These are not fun. They are all located around the dryer. Are we surprised? No! It’s cold and they dryer puts out a lot of nice heat. There were even droppings on top of the dryer.

You’d think with all of the cats in this neighborhood, mice would stay away. But no. The cats are fat and lazy, and now the mice think my garage is their bathroom.

So the Webmaster went to Home Depot and bought both D-Con and traps. And a Payday bar. Payday bars are great bait, because the caramel sticks to the peanut and the trap, and a mouse can’t get it off. He set the traps up on the night of the 14th, and when he checked on them later, he saw a mouse.

The mouse had sprung a trap, but was not dead. But he wasn’t moving, either. Carefully and stealthily, the Webmaster grabbed a pipe and tried to crush the mouse’s skull.

The mouse ran under the washing machine, dragging the trap with him. But he wasn’t attached to it, because he made a break for the hole and got away. In the meantime, the Webmaster had given himself a bad gash on his wrist from the washing machine’s sharp edges when he’d swung for the mouse. He came into the house swearing under his breath and bleeding profusely.

I bandaged him up – it was pretty deep, but I didn’t think it required stitches – but it will be pretty sore for a while. The mouse has not reappeared since. I can only hope that he sampled the D-Con at some point, and has died some horrible, painful death somewhere. The traps and poison will stay in place until further notice.

*****

I made more muffins. We ate all the Lemon Pound Cake ones, so I made Banana Chip Muffins. They peaked a little on top, but not too badly. The chocolate chips in them make them kind of gooey when warm. The Munchkin got one as a bedtime snack with milk, which she demolished. I think she ate most of it, but there was quite a bit of chocolate carnage on her placemat… and face… and hands.

*****

We are going up to my grandmother and step-grandfather’s tomorrow for dinner. The Webmaster will then update all their anti-virus software and give my grandmother another Internet tutorial. Breathe easy, Linda, they will at least be okay for this weekend.

*****

Happy 5th Anniversary to Handy Girl and Handy Guy! I hope that you actually celebrate this weekend, and don’t spend all your time building that retaining wall. I can’t believe that it’s been five years. That was a chilly weekend. There was snow. And someday, I’m going to want duplicates of the pictures that I took at the reception!

*****

I think that’s it. Battlestar Galactica is new tonight. I’m going to get my new stamping stuff today. The kids need baths tonight. I need to buy a shower gift for my soon-to-be-born niece and send it to Alabama. I have two loads of laundry to do.

But the dishes are done.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

This entry was posted on Friday, February 17th, 2006 at 8:47 am and is filed under General.
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