Wow, what a day!

We got up this morning to light drizzle outside. According to the weather-guessers, it was only supposed to be light drizzle all day, then tomorrow turn to genuine rain. Later, as the remnants of Ike approached, they said, we might get three to six inches.

We've been wanting to get some shrubs for foundation planting, and Cliff figured since it was too wet to do much outside, this might be a good time to shop for them. Yes, the shrubs and trees at the nursery are outside, but honestly at the rate the sprinkles were coming, you could have stayed outside an hour and still not have been more than slightly damp.

Of course, the minute we got to the nursery, the skies opened up. We attempted to ignore the rain as we looked at price tags, and then we realized we couldn't afford ten of those shrubs anyhow. Geesh, $39 apiece for puny shrubs?

"Let's check Home Depot," I suggested. "Maybe they have stuff like that, since it's fall planting time."

Indeed, they did. Only it was still raining hard, and we were going to get soaked in the process of choosing our plants.

Cliff suggested we go next door to the dreaded Blue Springs Walmart (yes, I was once boycotting that place) and pick up a couple of umbrellas. Hey, when you live in the boonies, you don't want to go back home empty-handed! Desperate times call for desperate action.

Hoping for a quick exit, we went to the garden checkout and saw two checkout lines... one about six people deep, one with only one customer. Obviously, there was a problem at the second one. We stood in the long line until we saw a manager come to fix whatever problem that checker was having, then Cliff and I moved over there, where we were now second in line. Do any of my readers see anything wrong with this move? I've done this hundreds of times, moved to what appears to be a better line.

As it turns out, it was not a wise move, because there was still a hold-up: The customer had some sort of papers that had to be inserted into the cash register. Since this was the garden section, the papers had become damp and the register didn't want to accept them. Meanwhile, a man in the other line gruffly yelled, "Hey, I was ahead of you!" Which he had been, in the other line.

He continued loudly protesting our moving to that line, and Cliff started saying a few things of his own; an example: "Do you want to step outside? I can handle you!"

Yes, my gentle Cliff said that, and more. (No bad words, though!)

They exchanged a few more words until the other guy moved over to our line (still not going anywhere) and said, "Shut up!"

And Cliff let it die.

Now, during this exchange, I was a bit nervous. My husband is sixty-three years old, and he hasn't been in a fight since sometime before our marriage. However, upon sizing up the other guy, I realized Cliff could whip him if need be. I didn't relish the fact that the cops might show up, but I know when it's time for me to keep my mouth shut.

Cliff told me later that by the time he was done confronting that man, he had started to feel sorry for him. The guy didn't look very healthy, and he was shaking all over.

Finally, back to Home Depot. We got out of the car and raised our umbrellas, only to find Cliff's was broken. We weren't about to go back into that cursed Walmart for a replacement: I think it's time for me to boycott the place again; it seems to have bad vibes for me.

We came home with ten Dwarf English Boxwoods and two dwarf Alberta Spruce. The Spruce go on either side of the porch.


I've planted all but three of the Boxwoods; there's considerable rock to be removed in their location, so I'll wait for Cliff to help with those.


Oh, and all those shrubs were under $10 each.