Wildflower Seed in the Sand and Wind

My eyes-Help them to Look as well as to See

Name:
Location: The Triangle, North Carolina, United States

I try to keep an open heart & open mind.

Thursday, December 22, 2005

Dear Prudence Can't Come Out to Play Anymore

This is the time of year that EVERYONE and their brother's girlfriend's roommate's hairdresser is putting together their "Year in Reviews." It's that special time of the year when people reflect on the events of the last year in an attempt to make sense of the passing year and to garner the strength to face a new one. If I were to reflect on this year, I'm not quite sure what kind of review I would provide. I would have to say that it has been a roller coaster ride. I know by now that life is full of ups and downs. I have had my share of ups, but I have had plenty of downs-and I have desperately tried not to puke during those descents down the rickety wooden rollercoaster tracks of my life.

To sum of this year I would have to say that if I were to every marry again, or rewind my life and choose another spouse, I would seriously consider marrying an auto mechanic. No offense, sweetie. 2005 will be known as the official Year of the Car Problems for me. If I added up how much money I put into both my and my husband's car I could have paid a car off by now (hyperbole, yes). Not to mention the total and complete aggravation of getting stuck, stranded and broke down. The year started with major head gasket leaking in January, transmission work in February, a $700 brake job in August, a couple of new batteries, and a series of electrical problems that manifested in the ignition switch that ended up costing about $650 to resolve after all was said and done. I have to confess though that both of our cars are old and have high milage (180,000 7 years old and 171,000 and 13 years old. So it became quite apparent that it was time for a change when my transmission blew out again last week and was going to cost at least $1500 to get it fixed.

Ok, after this unfortunate turn of events, I started to think that my blog was being read by the Karmic Society who decided to dole a little just desserts to me for being so flippant about feng shui in my last post. Here I was marvelling about my stroke of good fortune after hanging a crystal and feeling rather complacent and smug about the whole thing. So when faced with this transmission dilemma last week, I was ready to check out of this crazy life and bury my head in the sand- ostrich-style. But instead, I decided to look for the silver lining and make some lemonade and whatever other cliche type activity that would help be out of this jam. And I bought a new car! Well it's not brand new, but it's new to me. And I do love it! It's got a warranty!!! I do love it! And a CD player-no more cassette tapes for me. Woo Hoo!

But I have to say that I'm sure gonna miss that old car of mine. We had a lot of memories together. Getting stuck in the mud at Shakori Hills and being pushed out by a group of muddy boys. Campouts in the mountains. Road trips. The travels, the miles, the places we traversed. You were always there helping me to get from point A to point B and all points in between. It was rather sad getting my license plate and emptying out all the junk that had accumulated in my back seat. I bought her just before my daughter was born in 1998 and she was like a part of the family.

So goodbye Dear Prudence may you rest in peace you the greatest Grand Am of all ! Oh yeah, we name our cars. My husband's first car was a Mercury Monarch and it was named Bertha. Our Ford Ranger pickup truck with camper shell on the back was Bessie Mae. When we got the Grand Am we thought about what name we wanted to give this new hunk of metal. We decided on Dear Prudence. We were making a prudent decision in buying this car that would allow a car seat to safely fit. And we are avid Beatles fans, so it just stuck. Now, I guess I have to come up with a new name for my new car.

Other than car issues, this year did have some other bad spots. My good friend with two young children was diagnosed with colon cancer in June. She seems to be holding up and only has 4 more treatment to get through. That was a blow. So you see, my car issues pale in comparison to the obstacle she is having to hurdle. In my moments of despair this year, I think of her and her strength in getting through this.

The best thing about this year was that I did buy a house, which is an accomplishment I have waited quite some time to get to. So, all in all I have to remember that I am blessed. There are others who are suffering far worse predicaments than car problems.

Keeping things in perspective is what has saved my sanity...

"I WILL GET BY, I WILL SURVIVE" (Hunter/Garcia)

Wednesday, December 21, 2005

One Man's Poison Is Another Man's Religion

Last night I watched a small portion of a news program on a major network. I will not mention which one it was, not out of protection or sensitivity, but because I really don't know. I get them all confused. ABC offers 20/20, NBC airs Dateline, and CBS provides viewers with their 48 Hours and 60 Minutes as news magazine programs.

Nontheless, the topic this night was Evangelical Christianity as a religion. It included an interview with a very nice preacher with very nice teeth and hair. His creepy smile shot needles in my heart and I was afraid he was going to turn to the camera and try to sell the viewers some snake oil medicine.

The interviewer brought up some tough questions that involved Evangelical Christianity's place as compared to other religions. The interviewer had done her homework and was pressing the man on what he thought about other religions. The preacher carefully answered the question by stating that other religions were just misled and he only hoped they would one day realize the error of their ways.

This basically means that ancient religions that have been practiced for millions of year by millions of people are just dead wrong and these people were not fortunate enough to know the spirit of the Lord and the eternal salvation that was waiting for them in the realm beyond outerspace. You see, according to this man, there is the earth's atmosphere, outerspace, and then the heavenly kingdom beyond. Everyone has a place there, even if they were homosexual or had had an abortion-these were the questions asked and he assured the interviewer that these sinners could still get to heaven if they accepted the Lord Jesus Christ. You can just imagine the flowing white robes and harps and angels and golden gates already.

The interviewer continued to drill him by challenging the belief that many Christians wholeheartedly adhere to (most likely because it makes one feel special). He was asked how he could preach that Christianity is the one true religion and everyone else was wrong. He then said this:

"There a certain truths in the life. For example, it is true that drinking water is good for you. However, we know that drinking Draino is bad for you. If you knew someone was going to drink Draino, wouldn't you do everything in your power to convince them to stop?"

In other words, practicing Buddism, Hinduism, Islam, or any other religion besides Evangelical Christianity is essentially like drinking Draino. And this man is going to do his Christian duty by stopping those who are poisoning themselves with other religions by giving them a healthy drink of Holy Water.

Bartender, I'd like a Draino on the rocks!

Tuesday, December 20, 2005

Douglas Vs. Frazier

The title of this post would seem to suggest that I'm about to discuss HBO's most recent Heavyweight Boxing Title Fight.

But no, this post has nothing to do with boxing and everything to do with Christmas trees.

I finally bought my Christmas tree last night. So it is officially Christmas in my house. First off, I have to explain why my tree went up so late this year. I do love Christmas decorations, lights, and all that holly and mistletoe. But I'm just not that inclined to decorate right after Thanksgiving as many are want to do. My mother-in-law lives for the moment when she can pull out all her angels, singing snowmen, Santas, tinsel, garland, and reindeer centerpiece and bring a festive air to her South Florida home. She even decorates her work place. I just don't have the zeal to undertake decorating that soon. I work much better under pressure. Of course there were some car issues last week that prevented the procurement of the Christmas tree. And I went out of town this past weekend, so again no opportunity to get the tree.

I will also offer another excuse, although it really had nothing to do with the delay. My birthday falls on December 18th-that's exactly one full week before Christmas. My mom, bless her sweet heart, never wanted me to feel like my birthday was hijacked by Christmas. So, my family never put the Christmas tree up until after my birthday. This practice could be good and bad. The good is that our trees didn't get brown like the post-Thanksgiving Tree Putter Uppers who have been sweeping and vaccuuming needles for the past month. Also, when you wait until the week before Christmas the trees are much cheaper. However, the bad side is that there isn't much selection. So that explains why my Christmas tree this year is a little sad. Mind you, it's not a Charlie Brown Christmas tree. But the bottom quarter of the tree has no needles-more room for presents! And the limbs are so droopy that the ornaments had a real hard time trying to hang on. But once the lights are on and the tinsel glistens, it's not a bad tree afterall.

In picking out the tree, there is the all important decision of what kind of fir tree to get. Most vendors offer either the Frazier fir or the Douglas fir. The Frazier is characterized by shorter needles and more pronounced chunky branches. Whereas, the Douglas has much longer softer needles and more willowy limbs. I have to say that I'm partial to the Douglas. I think the Fraziers are more popular, and according to my mother-in-law (who knows everything) the Fraziers are much more beautiful. Now if you detected a little snideness in that last sentence you would be wrong, very wrong! My Dad always loved the Douglas fir trees, so that is what my family always got. My Dad died over 3 years ago, so in his memory I choose the Douglas fir as my family's official Christmas tree. And last year when I shared this fond Christmas memory with my mother-in-law, I was answered with that comment that would seem to suggest that Frazier firs are the only Christmas tree worthy to possess the title of most beautiful tree. I have this great strategy for dealing with these seemingly insensitive comments from her-it's called biting the tongue. Needless to say, I need much Ora-gel when she's in town due to this tactic.

I wanted to put lights up on the outside of my new house this year, but I don't own a ladder-yet. I did buy these clippy things that are advertised to be ladder free light hanger uppers. You're supposed to use a broom handle to attach them to your gutters. I tried one and miserably failed and did not persist in attempting this again. Besides, if I put them up now they probably wouldn't come down until July. And while I'm on the subject of Christmas yard decorations, what's up with the proliferation of blow up Christmas decorations? Maybe I hadn't noticed them before, but I have seen Snowmen, Santas, Reindeer, Snow Globes, and the ever popular Homer Simpson Santa perched on lawns just waving in the Christmas cheer. Oh, and don't forget the mechanical life sized Santas that stand guard on the lawn.

Whatever Christmas decorating you choose and whenever you choose to do it, just remember beauty is in the eye of the beholder. What looks like a huge tacky camoflagued painted monster truck wrapped in yards of blinking Christmas lights with lighted reindeer propped up with wires to simulate the pulling of it and Moose Santa sitting in the cab is beautiful to someone.

Be sensitive and deck the halls, not each other....Fa la la la la la la la la

Monday, December 12, 2005

Feng Shui It is

I'm not a real superstitious person. Sure, I try not to step on the cracks if I can help it. But I don't throw salt over my shoulder. I don't kiss my hand and touch the roof of my car when I go under yellow lights. I do try not to walk under ladders. But I don't carry a rabbit's foot. So you see, I'm just a little wishy washy when it comes to superstition.

So you can understand my skeptism when I was told (after I had already bought my house, mind you) that I had bad feng shui. My sister is pretty superstitious and informed us that we had bad feng shui after describing the layout of our house to her. Ok, maybe feng shui is not exactly a superstition. In fact, according to Wikipedia.org it is an ancient practice estimated at 3,000 years old. It is rooted in Taoism and involves the placement and arrangement of space in order to achieve harmony with the environment. I'm a pretty open minded person, so it sounds reasonable enough to me, but I have to admit that I didn't take it that seriously at first.

The problem with my feng shui involves the placement of my staircase. I have a small foyer, and beyond that is the staircase that leads up to the 2nd floor. Evidently this is bad because all your energy flows down the staircase and out the door. So I was told that could translate to money flowing down the staircase & out the door.

Like I said, I didn't take this threat too seriously. However, I have actually started to believe in this.

Shortly after moving in we had to get our garage door opener fixed to the tune of $245. Then we had a series of car problems with both my car and my husband's. We have probably spent about $1000 between the two of us on batteries, fuses, brake jobs, ignition switches, etc. since we moved in at the end of June.

After this run of bad luck, I asked my sister in desperation what I could do to appease the feng shui gods because they apparently were very angry with us for doubting the power of the ancient practice. So, she gave me three ideas. I could get a mirror and put in on the wall of my front door so my energy wouldn't fly out the door but reflect back into the house. I could get a potted plant and put it in the foyer. I guess plants keep energy contained. Or I could hang a crystal in the foyer. Same concept, I guess the energy is routed throughout the house instead of out the door once it hits the crystal.

Well, I still continued to drag my feet on these feng shui decorating adjustments I needed to make. So, this month...no wait, more accurately just this past week I had the worst run of luck. Read Predatory Towing for one such incident that ended up costing us $225. Then our heater in our house broke and cost $510 to fix. And if that wasn't enough I go to leave work on Friday and my car won't start. I was most certain it was the starter. I would turn the key and the car would go click, click, click. Now, I'm no mechanic, but that's what it sounded like. My husband suggested that we check the battery first, but I insisted it couldn't be that. So, I call a tow and get it in the shop on Friday afternoon.

Imagine my extreme frustration about these events, and I didn't even mention the hellish week at work but that's a whole other story. So the first thing I did once I got home after my husband picked me up (because my damn car won't start) was to hang up that crystal. And you know what? I think it's working.

The next day I find out that my car ended up just needing a new battery. Yes, this place was open on Saturday morning. And fortunately, that battery was still under warranty so I got it replaced free of charge. Granted I did have to pay for the tow, but my very nice insurance agent reimbursed me for that today. So what could have been a $200 starter repair, ended up only costing me the $20 labor charge to change the batteries. Which incidentally my husband could have done himself free of charge had I listened to him in the first place. But that's a whole other story too.

So, I'm keeping up that crystal and I hope that feng shui remains good to me.

Wednesday, December 07, 2005

Bass Great, Lesh Filling

This past weekend I had the pleasure of seeing Phil Lesh and Friends perform in Fairfax, VA. I had a really great time and it was almost like recapturing a snippet of what it was like to follow the Grateful Dead around during my college days. For those of you who don't know, Phil Lesh was the bassist of the Grateful Dead. He is probably the coolest surviving member of the band in that he still believes in the music and the vision that the live music experience can have healing power. Since about 2000, he has been assembling some of the finest jamband musicians around him to create his "Friends".

Going to concerts is something I have enjoyed doing since I was a teenager. I have to say, that I have attended some pretty eclectic concerts varying from new wave, house, rock, blues, jazz, bluegrass. My very first concert was seeing Modern English in a college gym with my sister. Modern English's claim to fame is the "I'll Melt With You" song from "Valley Girl"-the quinessential 80s movie second only to "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" probably. I have seen Ministry, Skinny Puppy,the Red Hot Chili Peppers and the Ramones. I have also seen the Who, Little Feat & the Allman Brothers (many times), Santana, and Neil Young. I have been to jazz shows-McCoy Tyner, Roy Haynes. I've seen BB King, bluesman. I've been to bluegrass shows-Doc Watson,David Grisman, Del McCoury, Ralph Stanley, Sam Bush for example.

The point is not to brag about all the concerts I've been to, that would just be annoying. Instead the point is to illustrate that the concert going experience may be slightly different depending on who you are seeing but sometimes it can be eerily the same anywhere you go. There seems to be certain kinds of people who attend concerts and pretty much annoy anyone that is around them. Let me share some of the people who should have just stayed home:

1. Hornies: These are the people who should have just gotten a room instead of coming to the concert. I can't tell you how many times I have been seated behind these folks. She can't keep her hands off his package and he can't keep his hands out of her back pockets. They make out right in your line of view and you end up closing your eyes so as not to intrude on this private horny couple moment.

2. Woo Hooers or AKA the Whistlers: You can recognize this person through your piercing eardrums. They feel the need to Woo Hoo, Yahoo, Yeehaw, and Oh Yeah at every opportunity they get. At the start of the song, after the guitar solo, after the song is over. Or they feel the need to whistle sharply so as to let the concert attraction know that they're here cheering them on.

3. The Requesters: These are more often found at smaller intimate shows that lend itself to taking requests. They can be known because they usually request some song that the musician is most likely going to play anyway, so there is no need to make a request. Requests should be reserved for those very special songs that you don't get every opportunity to hear. And they should be made at appropriate times, like when the musician has asked for them. It's just plain rude to shout out Free Bird, so please refrain from this stale old joke that was never funny in the first place.

4. Phonies: These people can be seen most anywhere, but at a concert they can be particulary annoying. They are attached to their cell phone loudly talking to someone on the other end who couldn't make the show but needs to be filled in on every detail that they may be missing.

5. Screamers: This breed can only be found at Dave Matthews Band concerts. They are between the ages of 12-19 and instead of listening to their "like, most favorite band of all time" they must scream like a banshee. Yeah, I think Dave heard your screaming and will now invite you backstage for a little groupie action.

6. The Socializers: These people are probably the most annoying. They are at the concert solely to socialize. They were most likely dragged there by friends or significant others and can't keep their mouths shut. They feel the need to talk through the music with a loud, shrill voice that detracts from the average concert listener's enjoyment. Sometimes they have had too much to drink and don't realize their obnoxiousness. Sometimes they are proud of their behavior. They can often be the target of Shushers or Dirty Lookers, but they rarely have any effect on this breed of concertgoer. They either blindly continue their blathering or worse turn up the volume on their conversation. You really should stay home if you're one of these. If you must talk during a concert, lower your voice to a normal level, talk in the person's ear, or wait until between songs to tell your friend whatever it is that is so important that you must ruin my listening experience with your banter.

So, as you can see going to concerts can be complicated by some of our lesser evolved cohorts that feel the need to intrude on our otherwise enjoyable experience. So dance, sway, jiggle, bop and shimmy your ass off if you must, but for God's sake if you're not there to enjoy the music, please don't sit next to me.

Monday, December 05, 2005

Predatory Towing

Have you ever been a victim of predatory towing? I have. Just this past weekend. It's a long story about why I even parked where I did, but that's not really the issue. The issue is that the towing company charges an impound fee for every day they have your vehicle. However, conveniently they are not open on the weekends, so you can't even pick your car up once it's been towed. Regardless, they still charge you the storage fee for those days.

So, my car most likely got towed Friday around midnight. I didn't discover the tow until Saturday evening about 5:00. Nonetheless, I was told I couldn't come by until Monday morning to pick up my car. So, I go get it & find that I've been charged a $125 tow, and $25 times 4 days impound fee. That's $225 total. I know the car didn't get there until Saturday technically, so why did I pay for Friday storage. And I would have gladly taken it off their hands on Saturday, but could not because of being closed. Sunday-same reason-Closed. And Monday? Why am I paying for the day that I picked the car up? When I asked the towing man how he could live with himself, his answer was that this was how everyone does it.

It's pretty much extortion, if you ask me.

Thursday, December 01, 2005

Wal Mart Shopping Adventures

I was good this year. Well, kind of.

First off, I have to admit that I'm the worst shopper. Now, don't get me wrong. I love to spend money and buy stuff, but I hate the entire shopping process. It just takes too much planning. Too much parking and driving and searching. So, although I am philosophically and morally opposed to shopping at Wally World, I end up shopping there anyway. Yes, part of it is their low prices, but most of it has to do with one-stop shopping. I can get blue jeans, catsup, motor oil, fishing tackle, shampoo, and light bulbs all in one place.

The other reason is layaway.

Now layaway is a nifty system for people who don't have credit cards (or in my case people who have maxed out their credit cards). You pick out all the stuff you want to buy, take it the layaway department where they box everything up and hold it for you until you can pay the balance off. And the best part is you only have to put 10% down.

So I spent Wednesday morning shopping at WalMart for Christmas. I was sick and tired of looking over hill and valley for whatever "hot" toy was out that my kid just had to have. I usually wait until my Christmas bonus from work to shop, but they don't give us the bonus until the middle of December, so by the time I get it things are pretty much picked over. There was the year that my daughter just had to have the Fisher Price Loving Family Dollhouse. I had to end up getting the last box that was opened and missing furniture and people. The manager very nicely marked my purchase down, and I ended up getting replacement pieces from Fisher Price, but it still was a pain.

So, this year when my daughter's wish list included the Barbie Pegasus Styling Head I knew I had to start now. I'm sure if you were a girl who grew up in the 70s or 80s you know what a styling head is. Basically it's a big Barbie head with hair and comes with makeup, brushes, and barettes and you can style and apply makeup. A perfect gift for all the future cosmetologists to practice on.

Well, this year they are marketing the Pegasus horse head instead, You can style the mane. And it's actually kind of creepy, but what 7 year old doesn't want a head with no body to style. So, I go to Walmart with the bright idea that I will get the styling Pegasus head before they can sell out of it. And to my chagrin, they don't have any in the Barbie section.

There's a real nice lady wearing black pants and a black shirt who is talking to a customer. She is helping her find some kind of toy, so I assumed she worked there. I have to admit she didn't seem like your typical Walmart employee. She was real cute with blond hair and was very nice and helpful. So, I thought I'd ask her if they might by chance have Pegasus styling heads in another display in the store. The woman is very nice and takes me to overstock area, but alas no Pegasus heads. As it turns out this woman works for Barbie and she tries very hard to get me to buy the Pegasus horse that Barbie can ride on. But a 7 year old is not going to accept that when what she really wants is the styling head.

sidenote: if you ever seen the movie "Niagra, Niagra" you will understand the overwhelming need to have a styling head.

Nonetheless, they have Cabbage Patch Babies and a few other things she wants so I complete my shopping adventure. I even threw in the Dukes of Hazzards Season One on DVD for my husband. No, he's not a redneck. But he does enjoy making fun of those Duke boys. By the way you know the Dukes of Hazzard had a "jumping the shark" episode when an alien makes an appearance in Hazzard county and Bo, Luke, Daisy, Uncle Jessie and maybe Cooter have to help the little fellow get back home (sounds a little ET to me). I just remember the scene of the little alien in the backseat floor of the General Lee hiding under a blanket so mean Boss Hog or Roscoe don't find him. Yes, I know, I know way too much about the Dukes of Hazzard.

Anyway, the poor Barbie lady, who actually looks like she could be put on the shelf and sold as a life size Barbie doll is being hounded by another lady in the toy department.

Shopper: Do you have an idea what to get a 3 year old boy?
Barbie Lady: Well, what does he like?
Shopper: Oh, he's adopted from the Ukraine, so he doesn't know anything.

Strange Occurrences on Red Mountain

We have lived in this small, little, rural town since July. It's a nice little town with nothing more than a Food Mart and convenience store with gas stations. And yes, there is a difference. The Food Mart is like a mini grocery store. You can get milk, eggs, spagetti sauce, even ground beef and vegetables. The convenience market is the usual type that has snacky type foods-chips, candies, sodas. There are also many churches(most of them Baptist, we afterall are entrenched in the Bible Belt), several hairdressers, a thrift shop, the Speedway Cafe(which I imagine you would hear forks drop if you walked in there unknown), Edward Jones Investments, and many, many farms of different varieties. A lot of horse farms, but also cattle and vegetables. We don't have a major grocery store, or Wal Mart for that matter (at least not yet). We have to drive about 20-30 minutes to engage in that kind of shopping.

Needless to say, it can be odd living in a small town. We have noticed strange occurrences unfolding. I will share two such occurrences. The first one is odd, yet explainable. The second one....well, I need help interpreting what happened.....

My husband is the subject of the first such strange occurrence that I will describe.

NC State University owns a bit of land up our way for their Forestry school. They have a network of walking trails that are open to the public and my husband takes a daily walk through these trails before meeting our daughter at the bus stop in the afternoon. He has explored most of them, and I have seen a few of them. Usually nothing notable happens during these jaunts, except for the occassional deer or snake siting.

Well, my unsuspecting husband was not prepared for what would ensue on this particular day. He usually carries a huge walking stick for the primary purpose of fending off wild life if he so happens to need to do so. He was never a Boy Scout, but he's always prepared. This day, he took a different trail that had not been explored yet. The trail eventually dead ended and he turned around to head back. Then, he heard dogs barking. The barking belonged to two hound dogs rounding the corner of the trail. I guess he stopped to figure out what to do next. However, the event was not over yet. Because around the corner came an entire pack of hound dogs barking and barking, eventually encircling him. He said he wasn't too worried because he could tell they were slightly afraid of him and didn't seem aggressive towards him. Yet here he is surrounded by a pack of barking hound dogs.

Well, the next thing he sees is two men on horseback dressed in complete fox hunt gear, scarlet coats and all. They call the dogs off and they take back off down the trail. My husband exhanges pleasantries with the fox hunters but his path is blocked by one of them as he tries to go along his merry way. He thought it strange, but soon understands why because just then an entire pack of about 10 more men on horseback in full fox hunt regalia come down the path. One asks him if he had seen any fox down the trail. He had not. So off they went following the dog. Another one of them commented to my husband: "I bet you didn't think you would be part of a fox hunt today."

Ok, the second such strange occurrence happened just this morning. I was waiting with my daughter at the bus stop. Usually we walk down there, but lately because of rain and cold we have been driving to the bus stop and waiting in the car. Well, today we were waiting in the car, as usual. I first must explain that we live in a very small cul de sac subdivision, with about 50 houses. There's the road that leads into our subdivision that dead ends. There's a small court off to the right of the main road and there's a side road to the left that caddy corners the court and dead ends. We live on this road.

I'm parked on our road facing the road out of the subdivision. I then noticed a silver sports car drive up the road from the entrance and turn onto the road I'm parked on. I also see another car, a purple Camaro, that must have followed the silver car. The purple car driver pulls onto the court and diagonally parks his car facing the main road. Silver Car Guy stops right next to my car. He's young, maybe 18 or so, and dressed in a black hooded sweatshirt. He is holding some kind of hand held device. Please forgive my ignorance of technical gadgetry but he's pushing buttons on this device. Is it a communication device, a GPS system? I get a little worried. Am I about to be carjacked? No silly, who would want my car? The Silver Car Guy doesn't really look at me.

Silver Car Guy then backs up and heads down the main road towards the dead end with his hazard lights flashing. The guy in the purple camaro then gets out of his car and stands next to his car, patiently waiting, arms crossed. He's older and kind of burly and rough looking, wearing a flannel shirt and smoking a cigarette. He holds his cigarette like tough guys in the movies. Not between the fingers like a "V", but between thumb and two forefingers.

Silver Car Guy eventually comes back, most likely realizing it's a dead end and there's no way out and away from the cigarette smoking Purple Camaro Guy. Silver Car Guy pulls back onto my road and heads down that way. Again, he will hit a dead end and find there's no escape. He finally comes back and realizes he's going to have to pass by Purple Camaro Guy. He attempts this manuever, but is stopped by purple Camaro Guy as he approaches the silver car. Silver Car Guy probably could have driven past him, but the Purple Camaro Guy kind of blocks his path, so he stops.

They exchange words and at this point I'm praying there will be no punches, or worse gunfire exchanged. I'm thinking this must be a road rage incident. I get my cell phone in hand ready to dial the Sheriff if this should happen. Well, Silver Car Guy eventually hands Purple Camaro Guy a newspaper, or at least it looks like a newspaper. It's wrapped in the yellow plastic newspaper delivery wrapper. Purple Camaro Guy takes the newspaper gets back in his car and just sits there. Silver Car Guy just sits there too. He opens his car door but doesn't get out. He just sits there.

At this point the bus finally comes and since we live on dead end streets, the bus usually backs up onto the court to turn around. However today Purple Camaro Guy is in the way. Silver Car Guy doesn't help matters parked where he is. Purple Camaro Guy backs up to give the bus more room and Silver Car Guy still just sits there. The bus finally pulls away. I'm still nervous about this incident, because I'm not quite sure what just went down. I turn around and drive back to my house after my daughter is safely on the bus and on her way to school. I call my husband to get his advice on what I should do. Ignore and go to work, or should I call the authorities? He advised I check to see if they're still there, so I drive back but by that time they are both gone. So, now I'm left wondering what just transpired. I have several possible scenarios worked out in my mind.

1- Silver Car Guy is actually a newspaper delivery boy. Instead of delivering papers on his bike, he uses his silver sport car. And maybe Purple Camaro Guy is like Mr.Wilson to Silver Car Guy's Dennis the Menace. Purple Camaro guy has gotten tired of his newspaper being thrown on the roof, or in the bushes, or in the mud puddle and today was the final straw as he chased him down and demanded the newspaper boy provide him with a clean and accessible copy of the daily newspaper.

2-Silver Car Guy is actually a newspaper thief, and whose thieving days have finally caught up with him. Purple Camaro Guy is the newspaper thief's victim. Silver Car Guy (or Newspaper Thief in this scenario) didn't count on Purple Camaro Guy staking out his driveway early in this morning. He didn 't bargain for his victim to be lying in wait for the thief too strke, because today he is going to chase that mother fucker down and recover his stolen reading material.

3-Or was is a drug deal, gone bad? That really wasn't a newspaper. It was really a kilo of cocaine wrapped to look like a newspaper. Purple Camaro Guy wanted his stash back. While this one is sensational, it isn't as much fun as the other two possibilities.

Hmmm.....strange occurrences.

Does anyone else have a better interpretation of this event?