Library Notes
February 24, 2005
By Pansy Hundley, Librarian.
Now, as I was going to tell you last week, when the sisters interrupted me, I will relate to you my 2005 rose-cutting experiences.
For weeks, I have had on my list of to-do-things, to mow the front yard, make all the weeds the same height and cut back my rose bushes. The weather, the rain, the cold, the flu-like bugs, all sorts of things have delayed my intentions.
So, on that bright, sunshiny, gorgeous day , the first thing I did was get the weeds the same height in the front yard, as planned. I will not relate to you the story of getting that sorry, stinkin’, good-for-nothing "new" push mower to crank.
My Doc Smith has me on a combination of two blood pressure medicines, trying to get my blood pressure where he wants it to stay. Talking about that sorry, stinkin’, good-for-nothing mower is not conducive to helping Doc Smith meet his endeavor.
I won’t even get all disturbed about the front wheel that I noticed on the second round of the front yard. It was wobbling and leaning and about to fall off. And, I thought, "If I kill this thing, it’ll never start again, so I’ll be careful and mow ‘til the wheel falls off!" So I did and it didn’t. I continued to mow and that silly wheel seemed as though it got tighter. I got finished and the wheel was still wobbling its’ way along. I parked that sorry mower by the water hose to give it a bath later after it cooled off. We shall, at that time, have a wheel inspection.
But, on with the rose trimming. I gathered gloves, cutting shears and a something to put in what I cut off . I do not like to cut my roses back. I feel as though I’m hurting them and killing ‘em and they’ll never make another rose again. The rose books tell me they love it. It will make them grow better and make bigger blooms. Now, I ask you, how many of them have ever been a rose bush and know how they feel?
So, I grit my teeth and chop away, trying not to think of what I’m doing.
There are people in this world you can go out in their Sunday-go-to-meetin’-clothes, prune their roses, and clean up the cuttings. They can go back in the house with nothing out of place, clothes just as they were before the pruning, not a speck of blood anywhere. I am not one of them. I can cover up head to toe, to no avail. I go in the house with bleeding scratches up and down the arms and sometimes the legs. I invariably nick my arm when I reach in to cut a dead limb between two green ones. Those thorns are waiting and they reach out and grab me.
When I begin to pick up the parts I’ve cut off, they grab me, in two or three places sometimes. I may get thorns caught in my cotton gloves and pull one off to extract a limb. Boy, those thorns love that. There is no way to get the gloves thorn-free, pick up that piece of rose bush and put it in the carrying-box without three "yeows!" and five or six scratches, bleeding profusely.
Why, that morning, I cut one limb off a bush, picked it up and wound up with a sticker in my finger, inside my glove.
One rose bush was so-o-o tall, but the book said cut it low. So, I once again gritted my teeth, finally got that big, round thing cut and waited for it to fall on my head. It missed the head, but had to be cut several times to get it short enough for the trash can. That meant the risk of leg and limb as I attempted to pick it all up, without injury.
Have you ever tried to stuff a long, cut-off limb from a rose bush in that green trash receptacle we have? Well, for amusement, you should try it sometime. I poked those things, cut end down into the can, all those bushy limbs sticking straight up in all directions, just waiting for me to try and grab one. They reached for me and my arms in all directions. It’s like trying to stuff a cat in a tow-sack.
I tell you, life ain’t easy for a boy named Sue. But, life ain’t easy for Pansy when the time of year comes to prune those roses, either.
I truly think they resent being cut and they use every opportunity to cut and claw me, in self defense.
I usually go in the house, after the experience, blood on scratches everywhere and wondering if I should go in for a blood test to see if I’m anemic. I look like I’ve been in a cat fight and I did not win.
Pruning roses is not supposed to be that big a deal. Why, I bet Neil Sperry can do it and never get a hair out of place. Maybe that means some got it and some don’t. I definitely must not. However, in spite of all the previous hazards that I have just gone through, those roses are low to the ground, including the "skyscraper tall" one.
There was one so tall and leaning over by the side of my carport, it tried to scratch my car when I backed out. I had tied it up out of the way. But, it is tied no longer. It is nice and short now and no longer a hazard to my Mercury.
So, just bloom away, Roses. I’m waiting on you. And I’ll get your fertilizer out there as soon as I can. While they wait for food and I wait for a convenient time, we’ll do what we usually do. We’ll see what is new in the field of books, at least for Farmersville.
I’ll tell you about Suzanne Brockmann’s new one "Hot Target". This book states that she "knows exactly what makes hearts race and pulses pound: peril and passion." Well-l-l-l. let’s just jump right into it, shall we?
"Like most men of action, Navy SEAL Chief Cosmo Richter has never learned how to take a vacation. So when he finds himself facing a month’s leave, he offers his services to Troubleshooters Incorporated. Founded by a former SEAL, the private-sector security firm is a major player in the ongoing was against terrorism, carrying out covert missions too volatile for official U.S. military action. But the first case Richter takes on is anything but under the radar.
High-profile maverick movie producer Jane Mercedes Chadwick hasn’t quite completed her newest film, but she’s already courting controversy. The World War II epic frankly portrays the homosexuality of a real-life hero – and the storm of media buzz surrounding it has drawn the fury of extremist groups. But despite a relentless campaign of angry e-mails, phone calls, and smear tactics, Chadwick won’t be pressured into abandoning the project. Then the harassment turns to death threats.
Though the FBI is on the scene, nervous Hollywood associates call in Troubleshooters, and now Chadwick has an army of round-the-clock body-guards whether she likes it of now. And she definitely doesn’t. But her stubbornness doesn’t make FBI agent Jules Cassidy’s job any easier.
Determined to succeed – and survive – on her own terms, Chadwick will face off with enemies and allies alike. And yet she hasn’t counted on the bond she’ll form with the quiet, capable Cosmo Richter. Even as the noose of deadly terror around them draws tighter, their feelings bring them closer."