Bob 'n' Rita's Awful Adventure

                                                     

Well, that's what we were supposed to be seeing last Tuesday at The New York Botanical Garden! The amazing and inspiring polka-dot vision of Yayoi Kusama. A "funny" thing happened on the way to the Botanic Garden...

And it was such a perfect day! Warm and sunny; we were cruising down Route 684 (with a load of Bob's now famous peony rings to be delivered to the Botanical Garden), merging onto the Hutchinson River Parkway when POW!!! there was a huge boom. Don't ask me how Bob carefully steered the truck onto the highway edge as he had little control. The only thing that really saved us from a huge pile up was that traffic had slowed to a crawl at the merge. We both thought "flat tire" but when I carefully crawled out of the passenger door and peered around all sides of the truck, no flat was to be seen. I called AAA.

(That's my jacket on the highway rail.) The cars are zooming past us at a million miles an hour, I'm trying to hear what AAA is telling me and I'm this close to having a major meltdown. All I can decipher is: 1.) Because of COVID, you can't ride with the tow truck operator in the cab so you'd better call an Uber or a Lyft 2.) I've been connected to the police (!?!?!) in Westchester and 3.) come to find out that the Hutch is a "private" road, owned by the State of New York and they don't allow just any old tow trucks on it. There is only one contracted tow company. (Mob connections anyone?)

So now we're waiting for a police person (*1) and a tow truck and wondering WTF we're going to do. The police man shows up and is perfectly nice and sympathetic. When I ask him if we're going to be abandoned at the side of this busy highway he says no, he'll give us a ride to a train station or the towing place or a car rental office. We opt for the car rental as I have no idea how to hail an Uber.

 After the tow truck driver arrives, he says we can have the truck pulled off the highway and "dropped" (like somewhere random at the side of some road) or taken to the tow place in New Rochelle. We've been assured that AAA reimburses us for this tow. Okay take it there, we'll have AAA pick it up and tow it to the garage we use in Connecticut. The police officer delivers us to the Enterprise car rental company-  it's my first ever ride in a police car! and he's driving at like a zillion miles and weaving in and out of traffic. We're all smooshed in the (very hard!) back seat and Bob points out there's no handles on the door; I guess so that we couldn't get out if we were criminals. We do get to the car rental and surprisingly, this goes without a hitch. They rent us a vehicle remarkably like our broken one: a red truck. (This encounter has a moment of levity when Bob and I prepare to drive home in said rental truck but we can't figure out how to operate it it. There's no shift lever. I go back into the rental office to explain that we're beyond old school, drive standard shifts and have (ahem) absolutely no idea how to get the car moving. (I'm sure they had a good laugh at our expense!)

Bob driving rental truck. We were afraid to touch anything as it was all computerized and foreign. I finally stopped shaking and drooling and yes, we made it home. Then began my several hour, truly Byzantine effort to get the damned truck back.

(This was affixed to the dashboard. Don't ask me why but I became fixated on reading it over and over and over again. I guess I was nervous enough to think maybe Clorox could wipe away our truck troubles! So I took a nonsense photo...)

 A funny detail is that we thought to call the Botanical Garden and offer that they could pick up the peony rings (which they really wanted/needed as they'd already been sold!) at the tow place in New Rochelle. They actually went and got them so at least that part of our mission was accomplished! (*2) 

Anyway, I call AAA and try (key word) to get them to say simply, "Yes, we'll tow your truck" but there's the small obstacle that we're here and the truck is there and there's the tow fee that needs to be paid. So I call Safeway Towing and the gentleman (who sounds like Tony Soprano) says, "We don't accept credit cards over the phone no more. It's gotta be paid in person in cash or a credit card." He says, "Make arrangements." We tried everything... why did I think that AAA would simply cover that $200 and I'd reimburse them with a credit card? Sounds simple? Nope. Their suggestion was that we drive back down to New Rochelle (!!??!?!!?!) and pay the fee. (*3) So I recall Safeway, talk to another (very nice) guy who tells me to find out which local garage is going to tow the truck and "make arrangements" with them. I finally did find out that C & C in New Rochelle would pick up the truck. But AAA didn't seem to "get" that the lovely woman at C & C had AGREED to front the $200 tow charge and we'd reimburse them here in Connecticut. (*4) This took several hours on the phone with the totally unhelpful AAA woman continuously insisting that she was NOT a supervisor and could never approve this. I repeatedly said that AAA was not even involved- except for scheduling the call to C & C and could I please talk to a supervisor?!??!!?!?!? 

Finally I got a more informed supervisor (Greg) who straightened everything all out in one quick phone call to C & C. Our truck was released and got a ride home to Southbury on the back of a truck. Bob met the driver at our garage, gave him the $200 and that was that!

We spent the evening admiring our own Botanical Garden, complete with flowering Magnolias and sculpture, courtesy of Bob. But we were spent! Drained! But yes! Glad to be home, safe and having- in an odd way- completed our initial mission. The truck is still awaiting repair. Apparently, the entire back end sort of blew up! (*5)

(*1) Hate to say it, but both Bob and I turned to one another and said, "I guess I'm glad we're not Black" because after all the nightmare stories of Black citizens being shot when pulled over for minor things, we realized how much safer we are being White. Sad, isn't it?

(*2) Funny how this part came off without a hitch. The two guys sent from the Botanical Garden simply drove up and transferred the metal work from our truck to theirs. I was sure that the towing company would say something like, "We can't release any property from your vehicle without written permission." But they just let the work go. Surprising.

(*3) Does that make sense to anyone??!?

(*4) Blessing on the lovely woman at C & C who said they'd do this; all we had to do was meet the tow driver at our local garage and give him $200. AAA made so much complication and this woman just cut through the crap!!! And she told me I wasn't the only one having trouble with AAA.

(*5) And I have some questions for AAA: we have a "gold", upgraded plan with 100 miles of towing and we still couldn't get towed? Please send us a list of roads that you do service so we can avoid the limited service roads in the future! And it didn't help that one "supervisor" that I talked to LAUGHED at me when I suggested I pay AAA with my credit card and they have their driver pay the tow company. I was furious as well as incredulous. "You're LAUGHING?"I said, "I'm entirely stressed, our trucks somewhere in New Rochelle and we're in Connecticut and you think this is FUNNY!??!" Talk about lack of empathy! I always had such good experiences with AAA but this trip prompted a different response from me. Corporate, unimaginative and really unhelpful!

Snakes 'n' Scammers

This "attractive" fellow was lying in the grass near one of our compost piles, but I didn't have my contact lens in so I thought it was a heap of horse poop. Hahaha! Good thing I had the presence of mind to go in the house and insert my contact lens before attempting to heave him onto the compost! I did grab the camera and document him (or her) and go back into the house and onto the computer to identify the particular variety of snake (especially not wanting to disturb this individual if it proved to be potentially poisonous.) I am confident in reporting that- although ugly- it is a harmless snake, most likely a water snake. (There were many of these snakes at a garden I took care of one summer. Nasty things! They were sufficiently long and intimidating so that if one was "sunning" itself on the stone steps behind the house, I was forced to circle the entire house to gain access to the upper garden.)
But alas, there are human "snakes" a few of which feature in the next discussion...
Bob and I told friends that we were making (another) trip to the New York Botanic Garden to deliver an order of Bob's metal work. We always look forward to these trips as Bob's contact there provides us with free passes and we get to see whatever special exhibit is featured. The friends in question asked what route we took. They expressed horror when we outlined the highways we have (successfully) traveled many times now, telling us that these roads were off-limits to trucks and commercial vehicles and that hefty fines were levied on the drivers that violated these statutes. They said that we had been lucky to have evaded the law for so long.
Chastened, we took the advice offered and plotted another course, which looked direct enough. I was feeling perturbed, as we'd managed to get this route down and were sanguine about reaching our destination- not always the easiest thing when navigating our way into New York. Anyway, we gamely made our way, finding the first two connections easily... until we got lost. There was simply no sign  that announced the particular road we were looking for (even though it had shown up on our computer at home). We went too far, almost winding up in Manhattan. We back tracked and took the only exit that made mention of the botanic garden and The Bronx Zoo, which is close by. Suffice it to say that once off the highway, we got even more lost as there was a single sign pointing us vaguely easterly and then abandoning us. I tried pulling up maps on my phone but seemed to get nothing but gibberish and Pokeman. Here comes the fun part.
We were stopped at a busy intersection when a man called out, "Hey! Your hood is open!" We were already moving but Bob and I looked at each other and agreed we'd better pull over and check it out. This being NYC, we had hit several heroic pot holes and certainly the hood could have come unlatched. As Bob pulled the truck into a conveniently broad sweep of street shoulder, a man approached (a bit too well timed?) and said, "Hey! there's smoke pouring out of your engine!" Yes, in retrospect, it seems pretty obvious what was happening, but at the time- after being lost and turned around and anticipating engine disaster- we got out and cracked the hood while the "helpful" good Samaritan said, "Oh hey, you're really lucky this didn't happen on the highway. You cold have blown your whole engine!" as he helpfully offered to add anti-freeze. Then he made a big deal of rolling under the truck and exclaiming as how our "engine pin" had loosened and he'd tighten it...* this is where Bob and I simultaneously realized that there had been no smoke, or over heating or smell and the truck had been running just fine. I said, "Thanks; we'll just call AAA", but our patron saint persisted and said as how we should give him $60 for "fixing" our truck. Bob and I (feeling pretty stupid and just wanting to get the fuck out of there) exchanged glances and gave the guy $20 and drove off, being lucky that that was all it cost. (In fairness, it was a very busy major road, not some back alley so we were reasonably safe. But good heavens! This snake extorted $20 from a couple of artists! Go pick on someone else!!!) Then we figured out that the guy in the car at the intersection was in cahoots with our "impromptu mechanic": a setup!

Anyway, we finally made it to the Botanic Garden and had a lovely time strolling the amazing tropical plants and exotic installation that replicated a Brazilian garden as envisioned by Roberto Burle Marx. It was spectacular enough that we had a splendid time and enjoyed the rest of our visit. Needless to say, upon leaving, we reverted to the former route that we had safely traversed many times. And except for getting stuck in a major traffic jam and crawling slowly home once over the Connecticut line, nothing else happened.

* Bob reminds me that this guy had his schtick down pat! He asked if we had a rag and proceeded to offer the wetness of it as evidence that our engine was leaking (this was after he wet it with anti-freeze.) I actually think that if he hadn't gotten so carried away with his own multitudinous details, he would have been more convincing. I mean, if you suspect something is truly wrong with your vehicle, you often don't know where to begin diagnosing it. But there was smoke and leaking and an "engine pin" (when I realized he was a scammer!) and a few other problems!

Spring Break!

Bob and I took a short but well deserved trip to the New York Botanical Garden today. We went to deliver more of Bob's fabulous metal work to the garden shop there, but they give us passes so we spend the day wandering around in a state of horticultural bliss. The weather cooperated handsomely and we got thoroughly oxygenated and made new friends. That's me with a new friend in the picture above. I have always had a soft spot for those tall narrow conifers...

Another fine fellow with a curious question mark of a top.

Look at that one! Bob spotted this charmer off in the distance. You have to laugh at some of these specimens. Here's another one:

Sort of a scrappy fellow! But it's surrounded- and honestly upstaged- by the lovely daffodils blooming behind it. There are daffodils everywhere. And entire hillside blanketed by what must really be a million blooming all at once. It smells intoxicating, too.

Here's a variety I particularly liked. It's apparently a very old type called "Seagull" (I guess you could have just read the tag...) that I'll be looking to add to my lilac/daffodil collection this fall. I did develop a real hankering for those white narcissus...
And look at this:

There are these amazing, magnificent blooming cherry trees all over the Botanical Garden. Huge old specimens with gnarly trunks and weeping over rocks; it's quite breath taking.
We had a fun and relaxing day and managed to get only minorly lost on our way home.

Shrub Border!

I should have taken a picture of this before I cleaned it up! It was a tangled mess of small saplings, rose brambles, barberry and just a general thicket of invasives and undesirables. There is probably a handsome case of "contact dermatitis" awaiting me, as I'm sure some of the vines I ripped out are slowly awakening poison ivy! Oh well...
I've been planning on creating a new shrub area for some time. Bob and I have collected a number of lilac suckers from several friends and we (spontaneously) purchased a shrub or two thinking of the future. Bob also had a few small flowering trees from my sister Beatrice having enrolled him in the Arbor Day Foundation. Those were healed into the vegetable garden and have grown impressively, making for a harder transplantation than we originally anticipated. The crab apple especially seems to have liked where it was residing and put up a fight at being moved.

Doesn't look that big but it resisted being dug up! There were a couple of dogwoods, too. One I planted out near a variegated dogwood we purchased last year. The digging in that area was so hard and it got to be late in the afternoon, so I put the other dogwood in the new shrub border. Sometimes, the path of least resistance is awfully appealing!

So it make look just like my shadow on a spot of earth, but there's a hole there waiting for a new resident. I dug and ripped and raked and dug some more- I spent the entire day outside, installing this new section of the garden. It's going to be nice, once we get the fence moved and put a new gate up at the end of a sort of natural path that leads through this former wilderness. Hey: we have friends who are down sizing and getting all happy about not having lawns to mow or gardens to weed. I just keep developing new gardens...
But look what the competition is!

We made a trip to the New York Botanic Garden last week, to deliver Bob's metal work that they sell in the shop there. (One of the horticulturalists said to Bob, "You're famous! Everyone wants your metal work!" That was cool.) But wandering around their 250 acres of trees, shrubs, perennials, bulbs and millions of specimens makes me so envious. Look at those flowering cherries above! And literally a zillion daffodils! Yikes. It was awe inspiring, but I hate to think of how many gardeners they employ. Back here at home, we only have me and Bob and Robin.