Wednesday, June 18, 2008

silent running


I have two things on my mind tonight, neither profound, but it's been a long time since I've blogged. So I'll say something. Can't find the photo I was hunting though, of our car at sunset. This is a picture of the Palouse River that I took while we flew over it last week to point out the geography to a passenger.

I had to come home early today, an inconvenience on a day I like to make my northern circuit of over 100 miles. I'll have to go back tomorrow for the rest.

The reason for this disruption is that I bought a wii on ebay for my husband for our anniversary. I didn't know it would come by Fedex and require an in-person signature, so I wasn't home yesterday. I called Fedex when I found the door tag, and no, they couldn't deliver today without me even if I left them a signed note. I emailed the seller asking him to re-route the package to the hospice office, but he said he could not. Paypal has a rule that the package must be sent to the confirmed address. Maybe that only applies to higher priced items because I've never run into this problem before.

The seller told me to "just drop by the Fedex center after work" to pick it up, and have my picture ID etc. My Fedex center is 70 miles away. No thanks.

Today was more convenient to wait for them than tomorrow will be. Tomorrow would be their last delivery attempt, and I didn't want to miss out. So I drove half my route and came home, fortunately in time to get the package.

The irony of it is that I had bid on several wiis without success, and although I'd been checking all the stores daily by phone, happened on one at Shopko last week. Then I won the bid. So, temporarily I have two of them, one at the $259 price the store charges and the difficult one for $330, which is cheaper than many were going for on eBay. What a surprise, to have things cost more on ebay! I'll be selling one for sure. Interesting, isn't it? People have taken advantage of the market and the shortage. Gosh I'm glad they don't sell gasoline there, or do they?

The second thing is sad. There was an article in the paper last week about the danger of Priuses and other hybrid cars to blind people. They can't hear them, and if the drivers aren't carefully watching, a blind person may step off the curb directly in front of them. Bill sort of pooh-poohed it, saying drivers always have to watch out.

Tonight, after he pulled out of the driveway to go to the airport, there was a dead dove and an injured sparrow lying there. Lots of birds peck seeds from our gravel because the feeders are nearby in a shrub bed. The doves and sparrows are always the last to fly away as I pull in, but they always do it. I bed they don't hear the Prius coming either.

What do you do when you find an injured bird? I've taken a couple of hawks to a wildlife rehab person in town, but a sparrow? It fluttered away under the barberry bushes, and I'm hoping it was just a little battered. The dove is dead, and at least one other dove looks concerned about it. I guess Bill will have to learn to honk when he turns in.

7 comments:

Ted Marshall said...

I hadn't heard that about Priuses. Poor birds!
I love the photo. It looks as if the big rock in the middle is half a foot sticking out from under a trouser leg or something.

Wren said...

Oh, it does! With big green toes and all. Thanks for noticing. :)

Dianna Woolley said...

Love the photo re the geologic finds in our great NW. I am always surprised as what our great region doing the ice ages, etc.......

And, the Priuses - the only thing my spouse has crushed so far is a small, helpless bush at the edge of the driveway!!!! Well, I didn't know I should be grateful for that. I really hate the bird story.

Country Parson said...

Well first of all I don't think it is Priuses. Probably Priusae or Priusi. And besides that, I own one. It's added some spice to life. Sneaking up on blind people, little birds and inattentive children can be a fun way to make the drive home more interesting.
CP

Wren said...

Oh Steve! Naughty! I'd better not tell Bill. Prius drivers are always up for a new hybrid sport.

I think maybe he got the bird from behind. He'd been sitting in the car fiddling with something. The birds had probably settled down again when he backed up.

jlh said...

OK I may be the last one to catch on, but I had to look up what a wii is. My son is into models, and we have to take our FedEx deliveries of Millennium Falcons and the like very seriously. I don't suppose wii is how you spell this little piggie went wii wii wii all the way home. John Hamilton

Dianna Woolley said...

jlh - oh I think you're on to great new marketing package with little piggies and wii, wii, wii!

The Winding Mind