Watering Flowers + Dodging Solicitors

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I guess you can only dodge solicitors for so long if they’re really pesky and persistent. Such was my experience recently.

I can typically dodge them, tiptoeing to the door when someone knocks and peering through the peephole. One guy came several times recently, and then appeared again the next day.

I was outside on the porch, watering flowers, when I heard: “I’ve been trying to catch you.”

Needless to say, I turned around quickly, hose in hand, and there was the solicitor. He said he owned a security company.

He said you have a Ring doorbell, but the battery needs replacing.

Darn. I always seem to forget these types of things.

Being Forgetful:

In fact, the other day, I was headed to the dentist, dermatologist, or someone with a Dr. before their name.

When I got to my car, I thought my purse felt lighter than usual. I looked down, and my wallet wasn’t in my purse.

I’m about to unlock the door when I realize that I have my wallet in my other hand. Don’t ask me how I didn’t figure that out sooner. So down the steps I went again, wallet in my purse, and not my other hand.

When they say one hand doesn’t know what the other was doing, they must have visualized someone like me.

Anyway, so I have a conversation with the solicitor. Young, I’ll say twenties or thirties. Nice enough. But irritatingly persistent.

But I digress. The solicitor guy is right there.

So I figure the best way out at that point is to tell him to leave me his business card. I tell him this.

And he says he doesn’t use business cards. He likes to do business face-to-face.

Okay…

I always wondered what they meant when they say a dog’s hackles are raised.

But people don’t have hackles. That’s animals. With people, it’s typically goose bumps. It is the contraction of muscles at the base of the hair follicles. 

So I guess I got goose bumps.

I stupidly said I couldn’t afford security, which, of course, told him all he needed to know. And for which Kendra would chew on me about later.

“I can make it affordable,” the solicitor said.

Something seemed wrong with this scenario.

Who Doesn’t Have a Business Card?

Who doesn’t have a business card in this day and age? You know, if they’re legit business people? For someone attempting to sell security, he didn’t make me feel in the least bit secure.

I’m not saying this man was dangerous. He might very well have a legitimate security company and was truly trying to sell me on his business.

I don’t recall how the conversation ended, as I was a bit nonplussed by then. But I didn’t think about it much for the remainder of the day.

By evening, it occurred to me again. And I decided I probably should let someone know about the event. You know. Just in case.

So I text Kendra and say, just FYI, but this and this happened. And I gave a description of him.

I thought she was home from San Francisco, but I was sorely mistaken. And she flared up like a mama hen. Let me know that I handled the entire episode the wrong way.

What did I expect her to do from thousands of miles away, she wanted to know? And why couldn’t she just go on vacation without encountering problems back home? Yada-yada.

I didn’t want her to do anything. There was nothing for her to do.

Feeling Defensive:

I tried to explain to her via text that I was just trying to be responsible about the encounter. And I didn’t know she was still gone. But everything was fine. Because she knows that I don’t spook easily.

Later, the situation slowly began to coalesce in my mind. I recalled that she had written on Facebook about purchasing tickets to a Giants game that Marley wanted to attend.

She had spent $700 per ticket, but got the day wrong. Or was it $700 total? I don’t recall. What I know about sports you could fit into a thimble.

Apparently, they’d shown up for the game, but they learned it had been the previous day. Tickets in hand, and no game. Empty stands, and no one selling hot dogs.

Mistakes are a wicked part of life. None of us escapes them.

An Illuminating Conversation with Rhonda:

Then I happened to talk to Rhonda, who is quite busy because her mother left the hospital and is now her full-time charge.

I told her that Kendra was upset about the solicitor and that she thought I’d handled it all wrong. I’m not known for thinking fast on my feet, after all.

She said she thought she was likely upset about wasting the money on the ballgame and getting the dates wrong.

Well, of course.

Rhonda is always the voice of reason. I’m usually left wondering which neural pathways her brain follows, while mine tends to hit a dead end.

I imagine she’s one of those people who could start a fire out in the woods without a match.

Rhonda, that bastion of common sense and endless wisdom, told me about the security device she uses. It doesn’t charge a monthly fee. And so I wrote it all down, and the topic of home security has already been decided and acted upon.

It’s called Eufy. Check it out if you need home security and don’t want to pay a monthly fee. They have an online store, but you can also shop for their wares on Amazon, Walmart, etc.

Well, I’d never heard of it.

But Rhonda’s son is one of those techy people who inherited her wise genes and informed her about this company. And she’s made sure, as sure as you can be, that her home is safe and secure.

A Home Invasion that Left Its Mark:

You see, years ago, Rhonda was the victim of a home invasion that has traumatized her to this day. She always knows if someone is walking toward her door.

Rhonda protects herself. She always knows who is around her and how far away they are. Has those “goose bumps” that raise up when and if any possible danger is in her vicinity.

Her back is never facing the door. That girl is ready for combat. And of course, this is a valuable asset when you’re a woman living alone.

So the Eufy product will arrive, and solicitors will be noted and dealt with more safely.

Mr. Rogers Signing Off:

And so it is…

This was the famous sign-off phrase used by Mr. Rogers at the end of every episode of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood. He would say it to conclude his message to viewers before singing his closing song.

My children devotedly sat in front of the square box that was the TV and hung on his every word.

And so it is…

I’ll end this little tale with what I discovered yesterday. It’s about the cucumber plant that sprang up in the middle of my flower pot.

I don’t know if you can see the babies, but I will have cucumbers soon. I find it so interesting that a cucumber is attached to that yellow flower.

It seems almost magical, doesn’t it?

But then we all know what a talented magician Mother Nature is. She’s a personification of the earth, and a powerful, life-giving maternal force.