We have a mega-pothole in the parking lot at Ugly Mugs and the Climb gym. This pothole has been in existence since I’ve been coming here, for two years, and it has grown and grown. It was big before, but now, it’s massive. It’s deep. It’s scary. It’s all-consuming. And it’s right in the middle of the road. I keep thinking, I used to think anyway, “When will they fill this in?” And I thought, surely, now they have to fill it in. Surely, now it’s too big. Okay, surely NOW it’s too big. And yet, another week passes, and the pothole only grows in power. I stopped thinking that they ever would fill it in. It is simply a part of the environment now. But today, I drove here, and I went over that pothole, and I decided to go through it, with a big bump and lurch, and I thought, I can’t believe that this pothole is still here.
I got my bagel, and it was a tough decision. I had the plan to get orange juice, and they didn’t have any. That threw me for a loop. I wanted a drink, but no caffeine, and calories. I have had enough caffiene for the day, and I know it, and even though I want more because I’m a fiend, I know what will happen. Nothing good will get done, and I have to use my brain, right after I type this up. I settled on the bagel, which is not outstanding, it’s just a bagel, and rather dry, but I got the peanut butter, and that’s some calories, and that will extend my stay here. Anyway, I made the order, my man Jake asked me how I was doing, as I walked to my seat, said I was doing good, and then after I sat down, I knew he wanted to chat possibly but I didn’t have any real topic ready, on hand. But when I sat down, I knew that I wanted to ask someone about that pothole. I had been meaning to ask someone about that pothole for years now. And I knew that Jake would know. He’s been working at the Ugly Mugs this whole time, and I know he knows things. So I went over to him, I said, Jake, what’s the deal with this pothole. He told me, he watches the people drive over it, the way their cars lurch, he said they’ve tried to fill it in twice, fill it with sand, dirt, gravel, and paved over it, they’ve done that twice, and still, look at what we have. We have the biggest pothole, honestly, that you will ever see. I thought that maybe there’s a sinkhole under there, now.
I’ll tell you, he told me that, and now I have some respect for this pothole. This is a pothole that refuses to quit. This is a large hole in the road that won’t stop, won’t be put down, won’t be filled in, and will just keep going, and growing, and forcing you to either drive around it or test your suspension driving through it. This pothole refuses to die, and it has had a long life. How many people have had to adjust their parking lot plans, to accomodate this beast, this monster of a hole? How many decisions have had to be made? How many conversations? And at least two work orders! So, you know what—I’m on team pothole now. This is a legendary hole. I hope they try to fill it in again, just so it can defy them again. It’s probably hungry for more dirt and asphalt. Fill me in! Fill me in! Hahahahaha!!!!!!
Leanne got herself an American Smoketree. That’s a specimen tree right there. She went to a native plant sale and found herself one, and she had an eye for it, she hunted it down. Good job, Leanne.
Today in the Master Gardener class, it was our last class before our wrap-up, already 13 weeks gone by. We started off today with a quiz, done via the smartphones, a pop quiz about pollinators and wildlife, and I’m not gonna lie, I was feeling a little unrecognized, I haven’t been feeling like I really am a big part of the group, and I don’t know why, and perhaps that was part of the deal, as to why when she said we were taking this quiz, I thought, I’m going to win. At least, I’m going to try to win, but I really thought, I’ll win this. And I picked as my name, Spurge, I love that word, and I like spurges, and while I was taking the quiz, and trying hard, I had the vision of, Amy Dunlap saying, “Who is Spurge?” And do you know what? This vision did become a reality, in exactly that way. 9 questions about pollinators, wildlife, a question about native plants, etc., I sniped them all, and came out on top in the end. We almost didn’t have a winner because Amy wasn’t sure how to find the scores, but the competitive members of the class weren’t going to give it up, and they helped her figure it out, and they said, Spurge has a lot of points, and then she ranked them by scores, and guess what? Spurge, right on top. I beat someone else by 100 points, which was extremely close, and we were ahead of the pack by a long shot. There was one other tryhard out there. And Amy said, “Who is Spurge?” And I raised my hand, it was me, I said, “Me.” And would you believe it, but I got a large ovation, the people in the front row turning around to see just who this Spurge guy was, applauding me. It was legitimately a great victory.
Amy said I won a prize, and she would give it to me later. She came over while Tobias and I were crafting our extraordinary poster about Maypops and the caterpillars and butterflies that rely on them as a host plant, and she said, “You get to make a choice. I’ve got a thermos or a mug.” The thermos was suspect, they always are, and she said, “I have the thermos and the lid doesn’t stay on so well.” Okay, perfect. Gimme that mug. Although, I already have enough mugs, and I didn’t need another one, and this mug wasn’t striking enough to earn a spot in my small roster of top mugs. My man Tobias though, he was really interested in the mug, and asking Amy if they were for sale, how he could get one, she said he had to win a quiz, you had to earn it. Not for sale. Well, I didn’t want it that badly, and after we had finished our poster, the class was over, I gave him the mug. A perfect redistribution of goods. You know, for every person, there is a mug, and for every mug there is a person, at least one, who really would love to have that mug. It was better off with Tobias, at least in that moment, because he could also have way too many mugs, and he’ll immediately get home and be like, oh man, I really didn’t need this, as he sets it with his 100 other mugs, and then he just feels regret for being overwhelmed by the splendor and glory of such a mug, in the moment. Which, this does happen.
You wonder—why did I want to win that quiz so badly? What did I need, that sparked in me a strong urge to fight for the top spot? For some reason, it really did matter to me.
HAKUMUSU 