It's that time of year that might be my most favorite. But let's be honest. I roll into the next season and I'm going to say it's my favorite as well. I mean, who doesn't love pumpkin spice everything? And then peppermint everything? And the smells of fresh cut pine? Sigh ...... my heart.
My heart also cannot take this pumpkin cuteness or the cuteness of all the tagging happening @fgsdurham on Instagram. Y'all taking pictures with your babies and littles with the truck makes me tear up every single time. But seriously, how has almost 7 months gone by with our Wittle Wove? Halle Claire is growing up so fast, starting to jabber and giving lots of smiles. She does make us work for them, and I find making an idiot of myself for her smile is, without a doubt, worth it.
But back to pumpkin cuteness. Last week, Sean, Julia and I ventured out for a pumpkin pick-up. We have determined which landscape truck holds the MOST bins so with a bit of negotiating/begging from Jack (the Landscape Operations Manager), we bounced out early one morning for "the pickup."
Mind you, Sean does most of our deliveries so he is very used to driving a bigger truck and/or the new Garden Center van. There was no question for me that he was perfect for the trip. And Julia, our Garden Center Manager, has taken over coordinating our pumpkins this year and let me tell you, her 5'2" feisty self has handled it like a "boss".
The Pumpkin Musketeers arrived and picked all the glorious bins we could find for you. Once we were loaded and drove away, Julia and I followed Sean. Suddenly, he pulled over on the side of the road.
Julia and I look at each other. "Ok, why is he stopping, Julia?" I ask. "What is he doing? Why is he getting out? What in the world is he looking at?"
I jumped out and find out the back tire was very low on air which was why Sean had pulled over. He was pretty anxious. Don't get me wrong. If I was driving a large truck with double stacked bins on I-40 at 65-70 mph with a tire low, I'd be anxious. No reason to break down, slow traffic, or have pumpkins flying on the highway while a WRAL helicopter is rolling video. We need press but not that kind of press!
Because Sean is uber careful, we weren't on the highway yet and a gas station was right around the corner.
"Follow us, Sean!" we exclaimed.
We pulled up to a super fancy air pump that actually took a credit card and gave you 5 minutes of air. It took me a hot minute to figure out how to use it and even longer for Sean and I to find the tire valve since this wasn't your normal run of the mill tire. After we finally found it and had the air pump working, we realized the tire was extremely low on pressure.
I wish you could have been there. Sean was getting impatient and anxious thinking the air wasn't going in the tire. I was getting impatient that he was impatient and anxious and the fact that I wasn't "confident" in my air pressure skills. And since Jack was on vacation, I couldn't call him. That meant Scott was running the division, and I WASN'T ABOUT to call him for help and get all his salt and sass.
So Sean is trying to keep the gauge held specifically and I'm standing on the other side of the truck reading the pump screaming over the machine, "Twenty-seven pounds. Thirty pounds. Thirty-three pounds, Sean!"
"OK! I'm holding it! Oh my gosh, my arms are hurting!" yells Sean.
"Don't quit, Sean! Keeping holding it for the love of God and everything sacred! We need thirty more pounds!"
"I'm not quitting. I'm holding it. Oh my gosh."
"Fifty pounds! Don't you dare let go, Sean! You can do it, you can do it!"
Where is Julia, you ask? She was sitting in the car checking her email while Sean and I were screaming under the truck at one another. Needless to say, we added all the air the machine would allow and it was enough to return to FGS with the goodies.
We've got pumpkins. We've got all the trees and shrubs you need. We've got pansies, mums, fall blooming perennials, houseplants and more. And in the middle of all of that, we do have some salt and sass sprinkled with a little class. Unless we are at an air pump....then all the class is out the window!
