Don't Play Frogger on the Freeway

Or you just might die. In a horrible way. We got to witness a man try to cross I 35 this evening and pay with it with his life. He had no chance. His body was so twisted and broken. His side was a huge, gaping gash. It was not pretty.
A major highway, people going 65-70, moderate traffic, and the guy decides to cross the highway. It's not like there wasn't an overpass a few hundred yards down the street. It would have been maybe a few minutes extra. It was not far away at all. But he decided to cross the highway. And we got to see what happened. Ugh.
We were driving home from the country, after having finished with some greenhouse stuff. We had stopped at Home Depot to get landscape timbers as they were on sale and we saved $45. We only got 20 the first time and went back for the last 10 because we hadn't been sure if it would fit. If we had got them all at once we would have missed it. Except we didn't. We were on the access road and were coming to the stoplight where we were going to turn. Traffic was a little backed up and we were slowing down. Next thing we know, we hear this THUD and see a car careening to the side of the road, debris flying everywhere. I thought he had blown a tire or something as stuff was just flying from the car. Out of the corner of my eye I see this mass flying through the air and watch the body splat on the pavement. The car who hit him stopped a little ahead, along with 2 other cars that were nearby. Before we even realized it, the boy had pulled over and was out of the truck while I called 911. The truck behind us did the same exact thing. He saw more. An 18 Wheeler narrowly missed hitting the guy again but thankfully the guy knew how to drive his rig and just missed him, otherwise it would have been so much worse. The skid marks are still there. The guy behind us made it to the guy hit first and was on the phone with EMS. The guy wasn't moving and was lying facedown on the pavement.
The boy and a woman on a motorcyle started to direct traffic, diverting it to one lane and giving the cops enough room to work with when they came. He had pretty much stopped traffic as the guy was in the center lane. That part of the highway was pretty much shut down. I talked to dispatch and got disconnected because people were on the way. I did some crowd control on the side of the road, trying to keep those who just wanted to gawk out of the way. Amazingly, everyone was calm and collected and managed to deal with the situation before the cops came. They said we made their job a bit easier. They ended up diverting all traffic to the exit before the accident scene. It wasn't a good idea to have traffic flowing right by the scene.
The guy never had a chance and was pronounced dead on the scene. He had actually made it across the Southbound side but only made it to the center lane of the Northbound. We had to stay around and give statements and all that fun stuff. It would have been a little faster if the guy hadn't died. That just made it vehicular manslaughter so things took longer. We had to wait for forensics and the detectives to come. Plus the crisis unit to talk to all who saw it go down to help us all deal.
The guy who was driving the car that hit him was still there as we left. I don't know what's going to happen to him but this was most definitely an accident. I feel badly for him. There was no way he could have avoided him without causing more issues.
Way to spend a Saturday evening. I got to see a man die. How was your holiday weekend?

Help Me

I am so ashamed. But I admit that I need help. I, *whispers* LIKE the Avril Lavigne song "Girlfriend". *whispers. There, it's out. I don't know why, don't know how, but I like it. It's catchy and easy to listen to. Oh well. I've liked worse. Tiffany anyone??

So ACL. I've got mixed feelings about it. I'm really excited about Bjork and the White Stripes. Bob Dylan- I don't know. He's a legend and I'm happy to actually be seeing him, but I don't know what kind of show he'll be able to put on. I've heard he's very hit or miss and there are days that he can barely speak. So who knows. I hope that the closing day of the festival is not one of them or there will be MANY upset fans. I had a feeling it was going to be Dylan closing the festival. He was posted as a very accurate rumor (was him, Eddie Vedder or Stevie Wonder. Stevie got ruled out rather quickly.)
The organizers of the fest try to keep most of the bands under wraps and usually nothing leaks out about the lineup. But this year was different, so I wasn't too surprised about who's playing. I know it will be a good time- all that music and people will make it so. Plus I am excited to be seeing certain bands, some for the first some, some for the second or third time. (I've seen Robert Earl Keen 4 times in the past year as he's ALWAYS playing around here.) I just hope the schedule cooperates with my desires.
It will be a fun birthday weekend though. I plan to get rather drunk and happy. We know how the festival works now, so we have better ideas of how to sneak in forbidden items like outside food. We still haven't decided about chairs though. They were nice but a pain the ASS to carry around. So we'll see. A 3 day parking pass for the garage is a must. We had a 2 day last year because we waited too long to decide about it last year. Getting home that first night was not so fun.
But the festival is 4 months away, Sept 14-16. There's still plenty of time to figure things out.

Bob Dylan

Dylan, the White Stripes, and Bjork. That's going to make for a really interesting birthday weekend!
Stay tuned for a longer post when I have time later on about ACL.

Rosemary and Garlic Roasted Potatoes

Easy and delicious. I rarely have any leftovers. Add more or less depending on how many you serve or to taste. I like lots of garlic so I add more.

3-4 potatoes, whatever kind you wish, red is best but russet or Yukon are ok, chopped into even sized pieces, about 1-2 inches
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
2-3 stalks fresh rosemary, de-stemmed and roughly chopped
½ red onion, diced
salt
pepper
garlic power (optional)
olive oil to coat

Heat oven to 425-450. 450 makes for a little crispier.

Dump the potatoes into a baking dish. Add all of the ingredients in order, saving the olive oil for last to coat the potatoes. Mix well, making sure the potatoes are evenly coated in everything.
Place in oven for 30 minutes. Stir halfway through to ensure even cooking. Use a fork to see if the potatoes are done. The fork will slide right through. There is no really set time on this. Roast the potatoes to your liking. I usually go about 40 minutes or so, until most of the potatoes are brownish. This gets the insides all nice and soft while the outside is slightly crispy and wonderful.
These go with about anything but I like to service with roast chicken or pork. It’s a very Mediterranean side dish.

Add parmesan cheese for an additional kick.

I got lucky!

I never win things. I never get this lucky. I never pick the right stuff but this time I did. Friends of ours had a Kentucky Derby party and we all put in $5 each and picked our Win, Place, or Show. Somehow, my picks were the most accurate and I won the $70 pot! Yay me!
I picked Street Sense to win, Curlin to place, amd Imawildandcrazyguy for Show. (Who could not love that name?!!) I was a horse off and missed Hard Spun for placing but not too bad. One other person picked Street Sense to win but her pick for place was Cowton Cat and well, that was dead last. So I got the pot!
Of course, I already spent it today, on 4 chairs for our patio. I'd been wanting them for a while and now I have them.
The Derby party was tons of fun. We ladies were in our frocks and hats, and 2 of the men showed up in matching seersucker suits. There was tons of food. Tons. This guy Russell was the chef of the day and he made Burgoo (hog, frog, cow, pig, gator, rabbit, among others.) It was amazing. Plus there were garlic-cheese-poblano grits and fried chicken. And Derby pie for dessert. The Mint Juleps were flowing, as was the Tecate (Cinco de Mayo influence there.) It was mostly a restaurant crowd so we were all focused on the food really, and it didn't disappoint.
We took some Burgoo home and it'se even better the next day.
All in all a good weekend.
On Thursday I get to find out who I'll be seeing for my birthday weekend when the ACL list comes out. A few bands have been leaked. I get to see Bjork, the White Stripes, Robert Earl Keen, and the Indigo Girls for my birthday. I can't wait to see who else!

Stuff I want to talk about but can't

Oh hell. It's been a rough few days. Work has imploded. I would love to say so much more but I can't. It's awful though. I nearly quit on Monday, that's how awful. I just can't deal with it anymore.
Insurance companies should pay their medical claims and not wait, oh 8 months until it goes to collections. It still hasn't been paid. People shouldn't have to fight and complain to get it paid. I've filed reports with many different places to get this done. I can't go into more specifics though. I wish I could.
And then on Monday I went for the state's safety and emissions inspection. Sigh. That was fun. The tires were apparently bad enough to fail the inspection so I had to buy 4 new tires. For a truck. Ugh. I didn't need that. On a Monday morning no less. That sucked. Four hours at the garage. (I drive the truck so I had to get the stuff done.) We were going to do it out at the house in La Vernia but they couldn't do it because they don't do emissions testing and it's $5000 fine if you get caught without it. So yeah. Didn't help that I came home to the collections notice that afternoon.
Anyway, in good news, the Greenhouse is up and running for the most part. We just have to finish and seal the door and we can move plants in. The back wall is up and finished. The water wall is working which means when you walk in, you can breathe. It's pretty cool. Our camera batter ran out so I don't have pics but I will.