Knotheads

Dad had a phrase he used.  It was actually a name that he called people, but not derogatory.  He did it in a loving way, it was never mean or meant to be mean and it was usually accompanied by that cackle of his that I wish I could hear again.  Only certain people were called this, and they were generally family members or good friends.  The word?  Knothead!

Today, I am a Knothead.

Of course, I mean it in the literal sense and not like Dad would have.

Because I am now sporting a knot on my head.  Also known as a goose egg, but I prefer to use Dad's phrase.

What do you get when you cross reaching into the dryer for one last sock that is out of reach and over the open door of the dryer, long red hair that is in your face and the corner of the washing machine right next to the dryer?

You get a knot on your head, that's what.  In this case, it's on my left side just slightly center of the temple.  I did it before church this morning, so I had to sit through church with a nice, large red spot on my forehead.  I iced it when I first did it, and it did get smaller.  But now it's obvious that it's going to be a bruise.  And probably a big one!  Not surprising that I'm bruising, being a redhead.  We do bleed and we do bruise.  And because we are generally rather pale-skinned, bruises always look worse on us.  They don't take any longer to heal, but it appears that way because they are so much more visible.  I was already dealing with a sinus headache and it didn't help, plus the spot is very tender and I keep bumping it.

It's actually been that kind of day, I have lost track of how many times I've hurt myself today.  Aside from the knot on my head, I scraped my left elbow on the towel bar as I was walking into the bathroom (that was actually the first thing I did today.)  I stepped wrong walking out of church and it felt like I tried to separate bones in my left foot - something I did as a kid so I know what that feels like, although I didn't actually do it this time.  I banged my knuckles into the edge of the open trunk when I was getting something out of Bill's car.  I dropped a hand mirror which barely missed my foot.  (Not superstitious at all, but I didn't break the mirror.  Just the frame!)  And those are just the highlights!  Guess I've taken over for Willyboy in the unusual injuries department today, and I sincerely hope that it is only for today!  Not that I want him to hurt himself, by the way.

But I don't want to hurt myself, either!  (Otter, you are not allowed to get injured, either.)

On to other things.  Bluebonnets!  We have 10, yes TEN wild blues in the front yard!  There were actually 11, but one of them had an "accident."  It was in the whiskey barrel, as Otter and I were going somewhere one day last week we noticed a couple walking their dogs and it seemed like they stopped in front of our house.  We were down the street by then, but I stopped and watched them and then they moved on so we thought that the dogs had just stopped to water something.  But when we got home, I noticed that the front blue in the barrel was kind of wilty and then I looked closer.  Looks like they tried to take it out but then decided to just cut a couple of the bud stems off instead.  Which resulted in that plant's death and in all probability, they did not get blooms.  I'm strongly suspecting that they may be the same people who dug one up out of the front yard one time, and I'm watching very closely now.  If we see them again, I'm going to make a point of being out in the front yard and greeting them as they walk by.  Chances are, they are fellow TEXANS which infuriates me - TEXANS are better than that!  And I'd have willingly dug one of the plants up and given it to them.  There are at least two others TEXANS in the neighborhood behind us.

The point of all that is that we have blues and lots of them.  And they are blooming!  Otter's been taking pictures every so often and they will eventually get posted.  There's a TEXAN tradition.  We have a tendency to put our children in the middle of a field of bluebonnets and then take more pictures of said children and flowers than the law allows.  That has never been an option for us, seeing as how we live in Oklahoma.  Until now!  I don't care that she's an adult and not a child now, she is my child and we are TEXAN.  And we got blues!

(You can probably guess where this is going by now.)

We have finally, after 21 years, been able to take part in the Tradition!  Those pictures will not be posted here, since her face is in them.  But they will be sent to a couple of relatives.  I just glad we have the flowers, considering that the blues in the whiskey barrel came up last fall and shouldn't have survived.  But they have and judging from the number of blues in the yard itself, they are probably very naturalized now and we will most likely have them again.  Bill mowed the yard earlier, we marked where they are with plastic edging and he went around them.  Which is good, because Otter and I would probably have skinned him alive if he'd mowed them down!  So would Nana, by the way (his mom.)  But he's also a TEXAN and they are important to him as well.

We have a robin nesting on the back porch!  Same place as last year, up by the door.  Only this time, the nest did not get knocked down and torn apart by another bird.  Judging from the amount of time she spends on the next, there are probably eggs.  I don't know if the nest has yarn in it or not, I won't know that until well after the eggs have hatched and they have fledged.  But I did put quite a bit of yarn out this year and it has been used in the past.  So there have been multi-colored nests at our house and probably at a few others in the neighborhood as well.