Flower Power

These days I am literally surviving on "flower power". I have remained on with the floral delivery company and have been more or less assimilated into the delivery crew.

It just sort of happened after I expressed an interest in doing this sort of work all the time and then two other drivers had health issues and I am helping take up the slack on their routes. Next month I will also help out with a courier route 3 days a week, which will increase my earnings slightly.

I have come to accept that I will never go back to working in health care again. At least not in the role I'd been in for over 25 years. It came to be such a "soul sucking" existence that the very thought of doing it anymore leaves me feeling spiritually crushed.

I have loved doing floral delivery since I took it up seasonally in 2012, and so that is what I'd like to do for now. I am not sure where this is going, if there is a place for me longer term with this company or another, but for now I am happier than I have been in years.

I've tried to bring my camera along on these excursions, but have been too busy to even stop and shoot photos for this blog. So I have nothing new to show of that nature.

I am enjoying this new life immensely, though we live "poor as Job's turkey" and from week to week, trying to keep the bills covered. But it will be all right. I know it was meant for me to leave that job and that way of life and embrace this one.

It is a new beginning, an uncertain future, but exciting and refreshing. I am usually a big "planner", but I have come to embrace a new way of being and that is taking it one day at a time, on faith, and with trust in God that I am heading in the right direction.

It's gotta be...I feel such an inner peace, so much better physically and spiritually, and so excited about a future doing just what I am doing and who knows what else.

It must be the "power of the flower"! I can account for it in no other way...

Flower Giggin'

I haven't stopped delivering flowers and fruit baskets since the week after New Year's Day. Got me a "flower delivery gig".

At least for now!

So far I've delivered centerpieces, little fruit baskets, tall vases of flowers, huge pot plants, wicker baskets of wine and cheese, crates of bananas, oranges, and grapes, huge bags of dog food (new item), little bags of dog treats, funeral wreaths, wedding bouquets, and any kind of floral arrangement you can imagine.

I do this Monday through Friday (and sometimes Saturday if they need me) from 1pm until I finish up anywhere from 5pm to 7pm-ish. I drive my own truck, sans dog co-pilot. She only comes along if I am close to home and doing residential deliveries. No risk involved and the weather has to be right as well for her to ride along with me.

Just when I think I know a local area I find out something new. Just the other day I found a restored 1800s school house in an area about 10 miles from where I've lived since 1994. I just never had any reason to find this and now I am enchanted and want to scoot there in the spring and learn more about this.

I've entered churches and funeral homes and admired the elaborate architecture and stained glass designs and seen these elaborate Victorian bannisters and parlors that are absolutely beautiful. I've left flowers in the nave, in the flower room, and dashed out hoping not to see the "dearly beloved" laid out in the foyer!

I've seen all kinds of people on my route. Some stare out the window and won't come to the door. Most come to the door and make some kind of joke or quip about the order, "Oh, wow, that is huge!" or "Who the hell sent that?!".

Kids, dads, mom, older people who teeter to the door, eyes at the window who refuse to open it, a woman in a wheelchair, a man in a bathrobe who ran out in zero weather to give me a tip at the truck window.

I see a lot of dogs, many who run out to "sniff me over". My favorite so far was a Labro-doodle named Sandy. I decided with Sandy that I might want to bring one of her kin into my home when I move to a house. So sweet, so smart!

I've seen some weird things. The lady who came to the door and asked me to please bring the fruit basket in (it was on her porch and I was walking away toward my truck, thinking no one was home) as she "had no pants on". She didn't! But I got the basket to her and tried not to look!

Some places are sort of creepy. One house looked like it was from the set of The Addams Family, complete with a fountain spewing brown water, a creepy gremlin statue, vines growing all over, and a skull door knocker.

I knocked and left that one as quickly as I heard what I thought was a growling noise!

I've seen how the "rich" live too. I mean the "really rich". Estates way back off into woodland areas with vistas of the Ohio River and valleys that would never even be imaginable. So many mansions. Many of these put the mansions of Newport and The Hamptons to shame. These are "new rich". Lots of toys and ostentation.

The "old rich" also exist in a wooded east side area of the county. Most are modest little estates or bungalows, nestled back in a wooded glade or down a country lane. Some have gates, most don't. These could be houses from out where I lived in the poorest county in Ohio except the land values and property values here are long-term high and it is all couched in a "historical ambiance" of the 19th century, early pioneer mystique.

These are the families that founded the city and they go back a long, long way. No pretense here. Being rich has been a way of life so long they don't know they are rich so they act like the rest of us. I've gotten some good tips here when some one is home.

Most of the time you never see a soul in these wealthy areas. No one out in the yard doing anything except landscapers, gardeners, or other delivery vans. Most of the time no one comes to the door. It's silent and still and you wonder if it is all a movie set as it is so surreal. Beautiful, but cold in a way. And I don't mean temperature-wise.

I have gotten a few tips too. Not many, but a few. Usually the lower income neighborhoods. Guess those folks know what it is to work for a tip. I don't expect them. I treat everyone the same. A smile, a greeting about "your beautiful flowers, wonderful fruit basket, gorgeous plant" from "so and so". And I end it with "Enjoy!" or "Merry Christmas!" if that is appropriate.

I love this work. I have lost all my physical and mental stress and I now feel strong and energetic. I don't need Planet Fitness because I've got "Planet Flower" making me strong and happy and fit.

The feel of the sunlight is changing, there's a feel of spring in the cool air. What better place to be than out on the roads "flower giggin'" when spring unfolds? I can't imagine a better job.

At least for now!

All Done

All done! 120 floral arrangements and fruit baskets delivered by Christmas Eve!

I could not have asked for more perfect weather along the way. Generous tips bought me coffee and burgers and kept me going along for a 10 day run. It was so much fun, but now it's over.

Over and all done and now what's next? is the big question looming in front of me.

I am sending out resumes and exploring options. What is more frustrating than a job search?

I know! A search for another place to live!

And we have got to get out of the "cottage-by-the-mall" this year. Our lease runs through September but they want to know by JUNE if we are staying! No, we are NOT staying! I swear to God we are not staying for a 4th lease renewal!

So I am making preparations now. I am looking for work (or creating some) that will allow us to move out east a bit and maybe be able to go back into a little house along some quiet rural road.

It has to be far out enough to allow us to afford it, but close enough that I can draw out some sort of "living" from some source.

So I am "all done" with the past life here and looking for a "new tomorrow".

And isn't that what New Year's celebrations are supposed to be about?

Anyway, HAPPY NEW YEAR to all my pals in Moto Blogger Land!

Roll on safely into 2015...

Happy Place

Like Peach in "Finding Nemo", I try to focus on finding a "happy place" in my daily life.

Usually it is a matter of attitude, and easily attained.

Sometimes though it is a matter of needing to make drastic change after agonizing, drawn out misery and painful decisions.

My situation was the latter. After sixteen months of the most incredible work stress I have ever experienced, I resigned and walked out to freedom yesterday.

Right out the door, never to return.

My spirit, mind, and body just could not take it anymore and I had done all I could do to fight the situation as an employee. It had to be over and so it was.

Now I will deliver flowers for the next two weeks and see what is next for me.

I am sad, but elated. Exhausted, but energized. Scared, but optimistic.

Today I woke up to a new world, full of possibility.

It was a strange, sweet feeling.

I am celebrating and looking forward to the best Christmas ever. A rebirth of how I spend my time bringing in kibble money and caring for those I hold most dear.

Oh how a celebratory scooter ride would be awesome today! It's cold (30s), damp, cloudy, and kind of all gray looking out there. We'll see.

Maybe tomorrow the sun will burst forth and the birds will sing!

Oh, wait, metaphorically that has already happened!

In the meantime, I have found a Happy Place after a long time of unhappy.

And I am so HAPPY!

Holiday Flower Run

And we're off!

The Holiday Flower Run has begun and I am entering into my third season of participation.

Since 2012 I have been a seasonal contract delivery driver for Thanksgiving, Christmas, Valentine's Day, and Mother's Day deliveries of cut flower arrangements, fruit baskets, funeral arrangements, wedding bouquets, and the like.

I got into this role on a fluke. I was unemployed in October of 2012 and skimming the Craigslist ads for some seasonal work. I had driven routes for years as a home health medical professional and I knew the surrounding counties like the back of my hand. I had also delivered things before, like oxygen tanks, walkers and wheelchairs, medical supplies, and pharmaceuticals. I loved the work.

It was clean, pure labor where I made a stop, dropped the item, maybe enjoyed a friendly exchange with the recipient, and was on my way. In the interim I was in my truck, enjoying the quiet or listening to talk radio or singing along out loud.

The pay wasn't great, but the pay off was delightful: peace, quiet, independence, freedom. Sweet time alone on the road.

So I applied and was hired to become part of this floral delivery pool.

I first began delivering flowers during Christmas of 2012 and I have been doing it ever since. I've posted a few pics here about my episodic seasonal outings and I plan to post some more from this Christmas run which starts on December 16th and runs right through Christmas Eve midnight.

Why do I do it? My answer is simple, yet complex. I do it because it is fun, it is fulfilling, and I feel part of something larger than just my mundane world of self. Plus I make a little money which can't hurt either.

It is fun to be out and about and to see all the Christmas lights in places where I would not otherwise travel. I have learned so much about my local world and the people in it. Sort of like how scooting opened up my world to other levels of life around me.

I listen to the Christmas songs and sing along and just enjoy my thoughts and memories of many Christmases gone by. Occasionally the radio offers a local Christmas history broadcast from the 1940s-1960s or a call-in show comes on and people share memories and traditions. My rides force me to slow down and enjoy the season rather than rush it.

I get caught up in the Christmas spirit which is underlined by the smiles at the door when I drop off an unexpected splash of color wrapped up in good holiday floral smells.

It is nice to bring a smile like that, to be sort of like a Santa Claus myself.

I've met interesting customers, petted many dogs, listened to lonely shut-ins, carried items in and placed them on kitchen counters or tables for older people too frail to lift them.

In all of the hundreds of deliveries so far I've only gotten two tips: one from a very poor lady who gave me $2 and a hug and the other from a physician who knew me from my health care years in home care ($20). That one bought Chinese food for our house that night!

The people in the warehouse are awesome as is the business owner. Everyone is friendly and supportive of each other. I like feeling part of that team. They are mostly older, retired men and a few middle-aged full-time workers who have been loyal to the owner for many years. I'd like to be among that latter group and have offered if a slot opens up.

These wonderful people were there for me in 2013 when my car was stolen and my dog abducted while delivering flowers. I never experienced a more compassionate group of co-workers. When I finally tried to return to work that week they had taken up a collection of cash equivalent to my week's lost wages!

They themselves struggling to put gas in their own trucks, did this for me. I will never forget that deed of kindness. It touched me deeply and helped me realize that there are still good people out there.

Business has seemingly been picking up in the floral world around here so we expect a huge amount of orders. As I go along I will post some photos of my experience and maybe tell a few stories of some of my most memorable deliveries. Yes, some are doozies.

So far the topper was at Thanksgiving this year. I was leaving a fruit basket at a house as the door bell had brought no one to the door. As I turned to walk off the patio the door opened and an elderly lady appeared at the door.

She called out to me and asked me if I could hand her the fruit basket through the door as she "had no pants on"!

I tried not to look, but how can you not?

It was true: she had no pants on, just an LL Bean fleece pullover and bedroom slippers!

"Lawdy lawd!", as my ol' grandma used to say!

More photos and some stories to come...

Give Thanks This Day

Life's not perfect, but so what?

And so on this day of thanks let us reflect on the many blessings we have in our lives.

Let's set aside our dissatisfactions, our worries, our woes.

Let's focus on the positives.

Our plans, our dreams, our every day joys.

Think of those friends and family who are there for you in the good times and the bad.

Enjoy the simple beauties of creation: joyful sunshine, birds at the feeder, squirrels running up your oak tree, the vast blanket of stars at night.

Turn off the news, hush the radio, find the quiet in your heart.

Today is the day to give thanks for all the good stuff in your life.

I hope you enjoy this day, however and with whomever you spend it.

Love to all from Ruckus Scooter Love and Maxidog!

Marshmallow World

Opened the apartment door this morning and looked out onto a marshmallow world...

Everywhere is quiet beauty...

Mother Earth is wrapped in a big warm, fluffy blanket of frosty silence...

Stopping by my favorite hiking trail after work, the trees are adorned with icy lace...

Winter has brushed the world in a quiet peacefulness...

Wandering

On Friday I set off on a scooter ride in the warm autumn sunshine around noon. It was the kind of day where you don't know which jacket to wear, so you wear layers. I had on a mesh jacket underneath my hi viz Olympia vest. Before I'd ridden three miles I was pulling over in the park for my insulated liner. 60 degrees felt like 40 on the scoot.

Full-fingered gloves, jeans, wool socks, boots, a tee shirt, and a sweat shirt completed the ensemble. Oh, yeah, and my 3/4 HJC IS-33 helmet with the layered visors.

Layers are key here.

So I am off heading onto the one lane road that takes me down into the valley as it passes my donkey friends, my Guernsey cow buddies, and the rows and rows of dried up corn stalks leftover from that memorable night ride of a few weeks ago.

It's a brisk, but balmy feeling day. The sun filters through the trees and over the fields in that "autumn" kind of way. Many of the trees are bare of their leaves now, so I am off on a pilgrimage to find stunning oaks and maples and birches along the river and in the villages.

I've no particular route in mind, but I am jonesing to see the completed village main street in Batavia, our county seat, so I head over there. They have completed the beautification of the main road through town with brick roadways, stone medians, street lamps, and flower pots.

Sorry to say I did not take one picture of it and I don't know why, really. I just rolled through town and enjoyed the view.

While there I stopped and got gas at the little United Dairy Farmer mini-mart. Regular was $2.85 and I filled up for $3.49. Scootie only holds 1.6 gallons but she gets about 100 mpg, so I ought to be good for awhile. While there I bought a bottle of Fuji water and some Ritz peanut butter crackers. My scooting staples along with Reeses Peanut Butter cups for dessert.

I headed over to the cemetery to enjoy my snack in the sunshine and rest. This is where I saw the above glowing yellow tree with little dancing leaves raining down. It was nice just sitting in the sunshine and snacking out of my pet carrier.

I've taken to using my pet carrier lid as a mosaic of stickers. I started doing this with the C3. "Joe Cool" is my logo for some reason. Guess it's because I love Snoopy so much. I've got a few other cool stickers such as "Heck's Angels Twin Cities Scooter Club", "Bigfoot Research Team", "Cincinnati Reds Mr. Red", "Eastgate Harley-Davidson" (I have adopted their logo due to the local covered bridge shown on all their gear), and this and that. Oh and don't forget "Peace, Love, Dogs". Always.

I can't even remember all the stickers and I'm looking for more all the time.

Here was a funky looking pine tree that sort of mirrored my mood:

The sun was very bright and directly overhead, so it was tough to get great lighting. Plus I am still shooting on my 5 year old Canon pocket camera. Some day I hope to get a little better camera for my scooter riding. It can't be too bulky though and I don't want to fool with a bunch of lenses. I have enjoyed that sort of photographic challenge but now I am all about compact and simple for packing.

Anyway, they had started renovating this little "chapel crypt" in the spring and got it finished. They re-bricked it and painted all the rusty wrought iron grating a dark green. There is no indication as to whether someone or someones are buried there, so don't really know what it is for. I just like sitting by it when I visit the cemetery on my scooter.

I left the cemetery and I had no plan. Wow do I love that! I just started riding. I found myself scooting through the village, up and down the lanes, enjoying the pretty little houses and well-tended yards. There are a lot of older, smaller houses here that people have fixed up in the most clever ways imaginable. "Quaint" is what I would call it. And no, I did not take any photos of them. I just kept scooting.

I ended up on the south side of the village and decided to head out south on Rt. 222, which follows the east bank of the East Fork of the Little Miami River. This river flows into East Fork State Park (see previous blog entry) and hosts a lovely park on the west bank called Sycamore Park. That is where I saw Bigfoot in 2010. N0 kidding.

See, I told you I was a Bigfoot researcher! No kidding!

Anyway, here Rt 222 is called "Riverside Drive" for a little ways. I rode it out a few miles and then saw a sign for "Elk Run Golf Course", so I turned left onto that road.

www.elksrun.com

Being an avid golfer myself, I thought it might be fun to check this course out. I also had a vague memory that this was a private club and that the course had been designed by Greg Norman. It wasn't long before I came to the entrance and turned left into it. Here is the little driving range near the cart shed.

Nobody was driving, but a few were walking to what looked like a club house far off in the distance. All on foot. They had parked their cars where I was, so I was not going to scoot up to the pro shop today and buy an Elks Run golf ball. With little to see past what I just showed you, I scooted out the entrance back onto the one lane paved road.

Right in front of me was a very old, very small pioneer cemetery. I looked around there a bit and no, did not take any pictures! I guess I am out of practice because I scooted a lot, looked a lot, and photographed only a little.

Here's one shot along this same back road after I left the golf course. The sun was blazing down so it's over-exposed, but it shows the "quilt" on the side of the barn. In the rural counties out here people set these on their barns as part of a "quilt barn route" commemorating this and that. I will try to do a blog post about it. It is quite interesting and I have to say I've never seen one here in Clermont County. Mostly in Adams and Brown. So I took a picture.

From here I found myself at a fork in the road and just as I stopped to ponder my options a motorcycle rider stopped opposite me.

I hollered out, "Hey, where do these roads go?" (GPS was not working out here and my map was not detailed enough for these roads, so don't mention it.)

He didn't have any trouble hearing me shouting as he was not wearing a helmet. I guess I WAS shouting because I had trouble hearing myself with a helmet on.

Anyway, he replied, "That one goes to Rt 32", and pointed to the one on the left.

So I took that one and it was a joy and a blast. Imagine gliding over a twisting, shaded, sun-dappled, single lane paved road out in the woods. Just the feeling of the scooter moving with your mind and the quiet feel of the handlebars under your palms.

Sweetly, smoothly, quietly catching the wave of the open woods as you fly along without a clue as to where you are or where you will wind up.

Eventually and all too soon I emerged into pure sunshine on a straight paved surface and the land leveled out to a smooth roll. I started passing small houses, then a water treatment plant, then a manufactured home community, and then "BLAM!", I am at the intersection of Greenbriar Road and Old SR 32, a bit east of Batavia.

Back in the busy-ness of cars again. I turn left and join them and ride along in their madness all the way back into the village.

It's getting cooler now and I am getting hungry for some real food that is waiting back home. My crockpot pot roast is going to be waiting in the kitchen when I arrive and thoughts of that lend pressure to my throttle twist.

As I enter back into the suburbs the rush hour crowd begins to stir and so I move along swiftly toward my destination, hustled along by their sense of urgency.

Later I fondly recall my comment to the motorcycle rider at the crossroads who asked, "Where ya headed?"

"Just wandering."

He responded, "It's a good day for it."

Yes, it was indeed.



Lazy and Cheap Crockpot Pot Roast

You’ll need:

A pot roast
Bag of celery hearts
Bag of mini carrots
About 10 red skin potatoes
A medium yellow onion
Salt and pepper
Rosemary
Thyme
Salad seasoning mix
2 bay leaves
2 cans of beef broth

This quantity is for a 5 quart crockpot. Use less for a smaller one.

Chop up what needs chopping up and lay the veggies in the crockpot, to the level where you have about 3 inches depth left from the top.

Sprinkle the rosemary and thyme, salt and pepper on the veggie layers. Place a bay leaf at either end.

Lay the pot roast on the veggies and then drown it with the 2 cans of beef broth. I use a salad seasoning mix and sprinkle it over the meat along with salt and pepper.

Cover and cook on high for 6-8 hours until the meat falls apart and the veggies are soft.

Scooter Quiz # 6

ANSWER: The Piaggio Ape,Italian for bee, sometimes referred to as Ape Piaggio, Apecar, Ape Car or just Ape, is a three-wheeled light commercial vehicle produced since 1948 by Piaggio.

An Ape used for pizza delivery...

An Ape hauling laundry...

An Ape used to haul multiple passengers...

More information on the Ape can be found here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piaggio_Ape

See if you know the answer to the quiz question and post your response. I will post the answer in a few days.

The subject of this scooter quiz "is a three-wheeled light commercial vehicle produced since 1948..."

The very first model was mechanically a scooter with two wheels added to the rear, with a flat-bed structure on top of the rear axle.

The very first ones had 50cc, 125cc, 150cc, and more recently 175cc engines.

Later a cab was added to protect the driver from the weather.

"The (scooter) has been in continuous production since its inception and has been produced in a variety of different body styles in Italy and India."

"Controlled with scooter style handlebars (current TM version could be bought also with steering wheel), the original scooter was designed to seat one, but can accommodate a passenger (with a tight fit) in its cab. A door is provided on each side, making it quicker to get out of the vehicle when making deliveries to different sides of the road."

"Performance is suited to the job of light delivery, with good torque for hills but a low top speed, which is irrelevant in the urban settings for which it was designed. Outside of towns, They are customarily driven as close as possible to the curb to allow traffic to pass."

"The scooter is still not an uncommon sight in Italy where its compact size allows it to negotiate narrow city streets and park virtually anywhere. In small southern villages, it is also often seen at the roadside where the load area is used as an impromptu market stall by farmers."

So, if you think you know what this scooter is, post a comment and in a few days I will respond with photos and some more information.

Meanwhile, here is your final clue:

NOTE: Thanks to Wikipedia for providing the content and photographs for this article!

Scooting as Life: Daring the Dark

As autumn comes upon us, the daylight hours grow shorter. And like a lot of things in life, darkness comes suddenly and before you know it it is DAMN DARK!

Dark in the city is one thing, dark in the country is another.

Last night I scooted out under a lovely setting sun and within 20 minutes I was navigating a pitch dark, back road, littered with a series of gulleys, creek side sweeps and cornfields on a stretch of darkness that I had forgotten existed in this world.

To illustrate, here is a field of Polled Hereford cattle barely visible...

As I navigated this stretch of one lane back road I knew it like the back of my hand. And of course the Honda lit the way. But the feeling of it all is different in the dark.

Here is part of the stretch of that same road in daylight...

As I rode down the hill into the area alongside the creek, the darkness intensified. I became focused at this point on watching for deer to leap onto the road as they went to the stream for an evening drink.

None appeared.

I fell into a heightened state of expectation, all my senses keenly focused.

My eyes became fixated on the headlight beam from the scooter as bugs danced and zinged at my helmet visor.

My ears were drowning in the night sounds of a million singing cicadas, crickets, and night birds.

My nostrils filled with the sweet smells of creek, loam, and deep woods.

I became committed to the journey. There would be no turning back now.

Wrapped in total darkness, I curved down into the creek bottom, turning left and then emerged into the valley of endless row after row of 8 foot high corn stalks.

Had I not traveled this route through the valley before I would have been totally lost to the darkness. The corn rows, the creek, the farm houses, and the road itself all took on a surreal look in the deep blackness.

But I had confidence that I would get through this maze of darkness and uncertainty. I had done it before, I could do it again.

I looked up to see a friendly partial moon, trying to light my way...

The corn totally surrounded me, as I slowly wove through the valley road. The sight of friendly deer and fawns eluded me. There were no pole lights or porch lights on at any farm house. A bazillion bugs danced in my high beams and on my face shield.

As I moved forward, for a moment or two, the darkness seemed to be winning. I had moments of panic and my mesh jacket was not doing much to fend off the chill of the night air along the creek.

I was getting darn cold!

But I knew I was going to make it through. I had now adjusted, become focused, called upon my guides, and rallied my inner resources to push me to the finish line.

Finally, off to the left I spied a little street sign and saw my little exit road that carries me up from the valley into the residential neighborhoods near my home.

So I turned up this one lane pitch dark road and scooted swiftly up to the top of the valley overlook.

As I emerged into the blazing street lights of a residential neighborhood the world opened up again to warmer air, bug-less headlight beams, and a sense of calm certainty.

I instantly recalled the delicious sense of danger, uncertainty, and pure adventure that I had just experienced. It traveled through my bones and veins and sent a shiver of delight throughout my being!

I had just ridden in the pitch dark on a country back road through a maze of corn, cow fields, and creek side curves!

The joyous feeling of getting through and being stronger and more confident for it rinsed over my consciousness.

Scooting as life, or so it seems.