Saluda News & Notations

Published 10:00 pm Thursday, July 23, 2015

“That’s Life!” ~ Frank Sinatra

Dear Reader, I’ll admit to losing count of how many columns over the years I’ve written about ordinary-everyday-things: from microwave rubber disasters to Julia Child, to dropping a box of hot pizza on the back steps and adhering to ‘five-second rule’, to dogs, birds, kids, bees, bats,  and all manner of life and death in this small town that holds a big place in the heart. Columns about giving up ‘stuff’, of agonizing over to sell this old house or not, of good neighbors and people, of too many pairs of eyeglasses and never enough money, and just every little thing that comes along in this train ride we call life.

Hopefully you get laughter and an occasional tear, or a little something to think and ponder on. Speaking of rides, you may want to hold off on a ride in my car. Yes, once again, I’m writing about ‘the’ car. Like dogs, you have heard more than once about ‘the’ car and on-going shenanigans of being car-less or stranded, AAA tow-trucks, and so forth.

Mondays have a bad reputation. Monday, Monday, you can’t trust that day the old song goes. Well, they weren’t lying. After getting boxes of paintings ready to ship, I decided to make a quick errand run before afternoon heat set in. After gathering up a bouquet of summer roses and garden flowers while outside with River dog, I dropped them by my friend Biddie’s house on the way out of Saluda, just as a little surprise to brighten her day.

Now no good deed will go unpunished, as we wags know. As I’m inside visiting a minute, Biddie’s husband Verne comes in. Did you know you’ve lost ALL your oil? Of course, I’m looking at him like he has two heads. Verne, you must be imagining things, I’m thinking. I may have lost my mind, but not the oil. Turns out, three of Jason’s Tree Service guys had been helping Verne outside and all of them had followed a trail of oil up the driveway to the culprit: a white VW Bug parked innocently in front of the house, harboring a large incriminating pool of black oil on Verne and Biddie’s pristine driveway (which was not so pristine anymore). Indeed, I had lost my oil. All of it.

Last time I wrote about the car, it involved a trail of diesel fuel left from my house to the Saluda Art Festival downtown after being in the shop for over a month. The EPA is surely going to haul me off at this latest crime. Turns out the oil plug came out underneath the car (which can mean certain engine death), luckily (we hope) I hadn’t gone too far and wasn’t on the interstate. The tree guys even tracked down the missing plug a mile back down the road, came victoriously hauling it up and suggested I call a lawyer on the varmints who’d last changed the oil: they noted it wasn’t even the correct one to use in a diesel car. Believe me, if you have four guys standing around a pool of oil and a car, you will hear some interesting stories.

The car had to be towed, by you guessed it, the AAA guy in the flat-bed tow truck: and was last spotted heading through downtown Saluda in disgrace on said tow truck, looking like an  oily character.

I told Verne and Biddie that I felt like the guest who came to dinner and stayed and stayed. The beautiful thing about friends is they overlook that your car ruined their perfect concrete driveway and give you sympathy, a glass of cool tea and a hug. Now THAT is what life in a small town with a big heart is all about!

Saluda Tailgate Market is Friday from 4:30-6:30 p.m. at the city parking lot off Main Street.

Saluda Community Land Trust’s “Walks in the Woods” will be July 19 for a hike to Saluda Nature Park; meet at Saluda Library at 2 p.m. Contact Chuck Hearon at 828-749-9886 or 828-817-0364 for walk information; SCLT at 828-749-1560 or  www.saludasclt.org

There will be a community potluck and bingo at Saluda Center, July 27, 6 p.m.

Happy July Birthday to Doris Marion, Debi Thomas, Rheta Foster, Nancy Weinhagen, Lisa Obermiller, Kathy Thompson, Bill Jameson, Emily Rose Ford, Jeremy Ford, Mike Cass, Emma Jean McGraw, Nathen Pack, Melissa Justus, Hunter Justus, Alyssa Justus, Tona Justus, and Lynn Savage.


Thank you, dear readers for reading this column! It’s always my goal to make you feel like you’re having a front porch visit. Feel free to contact me at bbardos@gmail.com; or 749-1153. You may also visit my website at bonniebardos.com or find me on facebook.