The Forecast Calls For Snow.. and Dead Cacti

Well the forecast is right on schedule. The wintery mix that was supposed to begin around midnight has definitely begun. A nice solid rain mixed with huge white snow flakes. This is supposed to continue for the next hour or so then cease for two hours. But at around 5 A.M. the real winter storm is supposed to start over Rock Hill and not stop until the afternoon. Supposedly Winthrop had some unexpected snow last year, only about an inch, and classes were postponed until 11 A.M. I’m wondering, actually the whole student body of Winthrop is wondering, what the administration is going to do tomorrow, as the forecast calls for up to five inches of snow. Any sort of postponement wouldn’t really affect me, as my first class is at 12:30 tomorrow. But I do have a meeting with coaches at 10. We’ll see how all of this unfolds… If snow does accumulate and classes are cancelled tomorrow, you can bet some guys and I are going to head over to the coliseum and attempt to sled down the huge hills that the coliseum sits on.

The truth is, the anticipation for snow is unlike any other. It makes your mind go crazy! I have some reading that I’ve yet to do because all I’ve been doing is researching the forecasts for the southeast on the computer, talking to everyone about snow and snow days at school. There’s nothing like waking up to a blanket of fresh white snow disguising everything that you’re used to seeing. I hope I can experience that tomorrow. My roommate and I have pulled open our blinds so we can see all the action for ourselves during the night.

Talking of cold weather.. I had my first practice of the semester today. It started at 1 and I didn’t leave the coliseum until 4. We had an hour training session with the coaches, then continued for another hour and a half with just us players. My legs are dead! But that’s all about getting back into it. The beginning is always the toughest, I think. We’ll see, as this week is the first five day training week. Boy this should be fun!

And another thing about cold weather.. it, or should I admit I, may have killed one of my succulents (cacti). I had planned to put my plants on my desk from Monday to Thursday, then move them outside on my windowsill from Friday through the weekend. Last Friday I did as I had planned, but completely forgot about the freezing cold temperatures on Friday night. It dropped to 10 degrees, which is not a desirable living temperature for any cacti, or any plant for that matter. On Sunday I pulled them inside and my heart sank. Both plants were kind of shrugged to one side and felt mushy to the touch. I immediately realized what I had done, essentially freezing the outside and inside of the plants. I went on the computer to see what I could find out about succulents and cold weather. Rule number one, don’t leave plants out in extreme cold temperatures. You can relate this to why bermuda grass turns brown in the winter. Frost freezes the grass, and pretty much kills it or makes it go completely dormant, leaving it with an ugly lifeless color. 

My cacti is pretty much done for. He’s just lying there, without shape or hardness, all shriveled up. It brings tears to my eyes. All this time I had thought that getting a cactus would be so easy for me to maintain; I wouldn’t have to water it that often, reading that it thrives on neglect. My ignorance, actually my pure stupidity, has caused my cacti’s continued rotting. I’m going to give it another week, just to see if it’s rotting subsides and any sort of new life becomes present. If not, then I’m going to head to the nearest nursery in Rock Hill to find another cacti, one that I hopefully don’t end up killing. 

However, my other succulent, the euphorbia, has showed signs of continued life. Its mushiness seems to have been replaced by its previous firm texture and it can now support itself upright (without the helping hand of two chopsticks that I dug into the soil and propped against the stem to keep it standing straight). I did read that rotting can start in specific places, especially in succulents with individual limbs and arms. If any rotting is seen in a limb or arm, you should cut it off so the rotting doesn’t spread. Then the plant should re-grow its removed parts. My euphorbia had one arm that seemed to be rotten, so I had to amputate. I could hear the plant screaming a I sliced through its green mushy arm with a knife, a memory that will never escape my mind. I actually left its amputated arm next to the plant in the soil. Now that I’m thinking about it, that’s a pretty cruel thing to do to a plant who has gone through so much in the past couple of days. He has to sit there, all sickly and such, and look at his dead body part! Horrible.

Anyways.. sorry if you actually read all of those pitiful plant paragraphs and didn’t just scroll down here to skip them. This blog is about my life after all, so I feel that I must include all the aspects of it, no matter how boring or nerdy they may seem, even the events of my new cacti brothers.. well, brother now.

One more thing I have to add, not about cacti don’t worry. I had been emailing the leader of the Wesley Foundation at Winthrop all week, just going back and forth about attending some weekly events that they hold every week. I’ve been wanting to join some type of fellowship group at Winthrop, but my plans for that were kind of put to a hault last semester, as I wasn’t entirely myself (referring to my immobility). But I got a mass email bulletin during the week from Wesley and responded to it. After going to St. Johns United Methodist Church on Sunday, Matt and I decided to join the Wesley group on Sunday night in their little worship meeting at the Wesley Foundation house, which is right across the street from campus. It was really cool. There were only about ten students and one leader there. It was really small, but the intimacy is what made it so awesome. After about a forty five minute worship/study, they informed us that every Sunday night they all go to this mexican restaurant called La Tequila, which again is really close by, only about a two minute drive. As we were finishing up our food, Matt and I were wondering where our bills were. We were soon interrupted that the leader of Wesley, whose name I’ve now forgotten, pays for everyone each Sunday! We had a really good time with the people, although I don’t feel like I really got to know anyone, nor did they really get to know me. But I definitely want to keep going. This is the thing that could fill that little space of emptiness that I sense between Winthrop and me; the one thing that would make me feel at home with this new place. I feel that making strong relationships with the people at Wesley, based off true goodness, will make Winthrop the perfect place for me. Now it’s just up to me to make them! Along with worship on Sunday nights, Wesley also has home cooked meals every Wednesday nights prepared by various churches in the community and they are also starting a book study for C.S. Lewis’ Screwtape Letters, which sparked my communication with the Wesley student leader in the first place.

Wow, that was a long post. It’s not official, but I think that was the longest post that I’ve written here. Hmmm. Sorry if you did indeed read all of that. That was quite much, or was it? I guess we’ll never know. Well enjoy your Tuesday, I know I will. I can see the whiteness piling up on the parked cars and street in front of me.