Waiting

The crocus are done blooming, but now that they are just leaves they are the cat's preferred grazing material in the yard. I tried to shoo them away from chewing the crocus leaves, because I wasn't sure if they were poisonous, but they were determined. I guess there is an Autumn blooming variety that is really poisonous, but I could not find anything about Spring blooming crocus leaves. I has been a few days and my cats are still alive.

I bought my blueberry bush a blueberry friend that I am going to plant it a pot. Before I bought the pot, I thought I would check what kinds do best in freezing weather. Glad I checked, not terracotta. The terracotta pot will either absorb water and then freeze, or the wet soil in the pot will expand as it freezes, both will crack the pot. Ceramic pots are not much better. So, unless you can move the pots to a warmer spot for Winter, the plant container should be wood, plastic, fiberglass, or cement. I thought there would be the same issue with cement as with terracotta, but on-line advice says no.

The price of gas here was holding at $3.49 for a few weeks, yesterday it jumped to $3.54. The price of lettuce plummeted, though. Last week it was $2 a head and I did not buy lettuce. This week it is down to $1 a head. The reasoning for the higher price was the weather. Did the weather get better in a week? Or did the radiation potential make lettuce suddenly unpopular? I don't have a problem with the price of lettuce being based on what the lettuce buyer is willing to pay, just don't tell me it's $2 because of the weather.

Idaho TV has been playing these scary commercials about how kids need to finish college for some initiative called "Idaho Go On" that threatens kids that high school is not enough. Idaho ranks high on the list of states with students who drop out of college. Part of this is based on a study, "Measuring Up 2008 Idaho Report, The National Report Card on Higher Education" which was sponsored by The National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education. The state of higher education has been in the news a few times over the last few months and I read a few of the studies on which the news is based. It is interesting that the studies are always conducted by educators with an interest in promoting college attendance and are always interpreted as a need for more money and rarely for reform. I never see any surveys of the kids' reasons for dropping out.

The weather here has been really crazy. Yesterday morning it looked like it would snow, then the sun came out, then it rained. It was supposed to snow, but it never did. This morning it looks like it will snow again. I need to learn to be more flexible and run out and do something as soon as the sun comes out and make the most of it, but I am not there yet and am honestly getting a bit loopy. My interview this afternoon turned in to one interview for two jobs and Vital Records should be done interviewing for the job I interviewed for last week and I feel like I am in waiting mode.

While I was waiting, I decided to try and get rid of stuff I have that I don't need. I took some of my grandmother's old costume jewelry to an antique store. I kept some of my favorite pieces, but I thought someone else should enjoy the rest instead of them sitting in my drawer for another 30 years. Then I took some of my old gold charms to a pawn shop. In the 70's, gold charms were big. I had one that was a shell that everyone thought was a coke spoon. I am still shocked at how much I paid for that gold versus what it is really worth. I had them look at the ring I bought myself for my 30th birthday, which was supposed to be platinum, but it turns out it is not, it is white gold. I was really ripped-off on that one and decided not to compound the rip-off by selling it. If I ever buy any jewelry again, it is going to be from a pawn shop, they seem to be more honest and their price seems to be much closer to the actual value of the piece.

A pawn shop here also seems to be a good place to buy a guitar or a bike. Must be many people thinking they wanted to play the guitar and then changing their mind. I looked at bikes, but that will take some shopping around on a warmer day.

Being in waiting mode and feeling loopy and bored and unfocused is not conducive to blog writing. Artist's Way meeting is tonight after my interview, so I hope I feel better tomorrow.