SPELLING BEE Time

Posted 7/12/22

BY BEA WESTERBERG “Courage is fire, and bullying is smoke”. Benjamin Disraeli I had been spending some of my time indoors on these hot days Googling Viper yellow spray paint to touch up the …

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SPELLING BEE Time

Posted

BY BEA WESTERBERG

“Courage is fire, and bullying is smoke”. Benjamin Disraeli

I had been spending some of my time indoors on these hot days Googling Viper yellow spray paint to touch up the Volkswagen Rabbit car that is spending its retirement years as my giant flower planter at the end of my driveway. A few years ago Neighbor Tony gifted me with the Rabbit. This car had been on stage in a number of places around the United States including San Francisco, and its last stage show was at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis. It came to me with a title but no engine or gas tank and it needed some love, so Tony did an outstanding job of spray painting it with Viper Yellow paint which I finally found for over $50.00 a quart and a month’s wait time. This car was installed at the end of my driveway and tool boxes and tires were added to become vessels for flowers. (I had thought that only over my dead body would I use tires for a planter, but I changed my tune in a hurry).For a number of years, I planned and planted a different selection of flowers. A lot of people did enjoy seeing it and stopped to take pictures and selfies.

Forward to the evening of July 5th. Neighbor Rose looks out and sees the car in the car park going up in huge flames! What could have been in the car to make it burn? And it was a BIG fire for a small car that had next to nothing in it but flowers and a stuffed bear. It had been stripped to be legal to be in indoor areas so it certainly could not have been a fire from an engine or a gas tank. We called 911 just to be sure that the fire would not spread to the Chamberlain wheat fields next door. Of course you can not just have a “small” fire. The whole grand assemblage of the fire and sheriff’s department arrived on scene. It was almost old home week as we saw a lot of the same faces that were here for the April 11 fire of the garage and shop.

It was on fire for a period of time before the fire department came, but they still had to work to put out the fire. They collected evidence of arson and there is an incident number of 22000837 on file at the Sheriff’s office.

Okay, time for a message to whoever(s) needed to extend the 4th and decide to harm someone’s property. Did you wait around to see if you did get a fire going? Did you drive by later to see if you did a good job? Everything sat there for at least 4 years until last year the windows got shot at and a baseball bat was used to break the whole front windshield. Separate jobs, or did you come back to finish it off this year? If you didn’t like the looks of the site, you could just have said to yourself “what awful taste” and kept driving by.

I am not saying this is going to happen but there are stories of the Phoenix rising up from the ashes. Remember this car had the spirit of the Rabbit and also the 5 foot stuffed teddy bear, Zuba, who was in the car and perished. Remember they saw who did this. The Rabbit and the Bear together could be a strong power.

To say I didn’t really need another fire happening in my life would be putting it very mildly. If you or someone you know has any information on this “fun night out”, please let the sheriff’s department know. The incident number is listed above and you can call to a recorded tip line, 24 hours a day, at 651-438-TIPS.

It is very hard to replace flowers at this time of the year but I think some of them might have a chance. I trimmed, fertilized and watered like crazy. The fire chief said that now I could call it my GHOST CAR and embrace the fact that now I can almost plant the entire car with flowers. Another bright thought was that I don’t have to keep searching for that Viper yellow paint. I have enough serious problems trying to get the 2004 screaming yellow Ford Mustang replaced. I am told “No more yellow cars with animal names”. We will see how that works out!