Wednesday, July 27, 2016

But, where do I vote?

My camera has not been out for a spin for so long, I threw it over my shoulder this morning. There could be one decent picture lurking in our drought out landscape.


One turkey vulture hanging over the salt shed. Far fewer take their morning roost here, since the two dead trees were removed, after they fell, one through the salt shed roof.

You may recall, the vultures lay eggs on flat roofs, like the school house roof, and leave them to hatch. Or, roll over the edge.

I had a turkey vulture morning.

There was a call on my machine,
"I used to vote right there in your schoolhouse, but I moved to Parma. Where do I vote now?"

Actually, I do a lot of public service stuff.

The caller now lives in a different county, and needs to register the new address with the Board of Elections of the county.

So, I looked up that county's Board of Elections before I returned the call.

"Now you live in Cuyahoga County. You must register your new address with them, and they will tell you where to vote."

"How do I do that?"

"You can call them. The phone number is ......"

"I'm driving. Can you text it to me?"

I keep reading the expression "facepalm moment.' I used it, and then texted the number on my personal cell phone. I could call it a turkey vulture moment, but facepalm has it covered without knowing about eggs rolling off the roof.


I paid the bill for the blocks to build a new material bin. The old wooden bins were collapsing and rotted to dust, thirty or forty years later.

Of course there was controversy when the new road super asked for authorization to buy these blocks. The iconoclasts at the decision table could not bear the thought of concrete replacing the wood.

The new road super brought in a quote for building two new wooden storage bins. It was, of course, twice the cost of the concrete blocks. The decision makers compromised; one bin this year, one next.

Not before they had a decision maker conversation on how to make them more attractive, including placing them at an angle to the building. Eventually the person of no authority said, peevishly, "It's a road department yard for crying out loud. It will never be pretty; let it be."

The discussion moved along to real topics, and today I paid the bill.


Leaving, I encountered these tourists with four kayaks.  
"Where is the river?"

I sent them back the way they came in.
How can you miss a river when you crossed it on a bridge?


In closing, a stand of black eyed Susan's that the winter salt in the parking lot has never decimated.
Hardy things, black eyed Susan's.

31 comments:

  1. I've got them and just love how they come back every year.

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  2. I need strong flowers here,i shall look for them.

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  3. My aunt's yard has over a hundred Black-eyed Susan blooms, and she swears they all migrated from a couple of plants across a paved road.

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    1. I'm sure she's right. At the old house we dug up the excess every year and planted them in the ravine, along with the ditch lilies.

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  4. You know... no matter where you live or what you're doing, you tell a great story.

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  5. Don't you find bureaucracy tedious at times? That is a great picture of the turkey vulture.

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  6. You had a couple of 'facepalm' moment there!!

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  7. Hari OM
    Crikey, I was facepalming before you got to it yourself! &*> YAM xx

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  8. Road department yards will never be pretty. Thank goodness for common sense and concrete blocks that will last so much longer than wood.
    Love the black-eyed Susans.

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  9. LOL about wondering where the river was. Maybe they were texting at the time trying to figure out where they needed to go and vote :)

    betty

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  10. Lol. So much in this post. The turkey vulture has a small head for such a large bird. Love the flowers.

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  11. exciting day - I didn't know that about vulture eggs.
    Hey, don't they have a most beautiful road dept. yard award? You missed your chance for it.

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  12. Was the person of no authority you? It sounds like your practical and pragmatic approach.
    I hope there are many less face palm moments today.

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  13. Face palm moment. Haha. I've had a few of those kinds of calls. Sometimes, I pull the receiver away from my ear and lock at it quizzically. That's my version of a face palm moment, I guess. It would be even better if I had great eyebrows because then I could arch one in a highly quizzical manner, but I wasn't blessed that way. Do you know where I could get some? Good eyebrows? Just kidding. Face palm me, Joanne!

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  14. Down here we call kayaks alligator burritos. Sometimes common sense actually triumphs, but not often

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  15. I had no idea that vultures lay their eggs on flat roofs, so many places that we have lived that there have been dead trees we called buzzard trees, and were mezmerized by their numbers.

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  16. I had no idea that vultures lay their eggs on flat roofs, so many places that we have lived that there have been dead trees we called buzzard trees, and were mezmerized by their numbers.

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  17. oh lord where did my comment go, love the buzzard and have had many a buzzard tree near my mountains residences.

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  18. There is always someone pushing for something stupid just to hear him(her)self.
    "It's a road department yard for crying out loud. It will never be pretty; let it be." was a perfect response...made by a feisty Grandma perhaps?

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    1. I generally give my title as "the person with no authority."

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  19. My goodness, you are a patient woman! I am so glad you managed to have Yam visit! We enjoyed her time with us, too!
    (ツ) from Cottage Country Ontario , ON, Canada!

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  20. Face palm moment...I love that.

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  21. Oh, hey, we have the same job title, Joanne! I appreciate your sensible outlook on the yard.

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  22. Some people remind me of black eyed susans. Always bright and cheerful and nothing ever fazes them.
    :)

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  23. My oh my -- if that turkey buzzard could understand English she/he would be shaking its head about all the decision making talk regarding wood or concrete bins. And again shaking its head when the kayak folks asked where the river was after they had just ridden over the bridge -- too funny!

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  24. I like concrete blocks for road salt.

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  25. Sounds like a lot of challenged thinkers out there - including the vultures.
    Before their eggs rolled off the roof, I'd think they'd cook right in the shell.

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  26. that person of no authority wouldn't happen to have been you by any chance? unfortunately, our country is full of face palm moments.

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