Lucy’s family suffered another devastating loss tonight. My father-in-law, Bob, died tonight at 10:45 pm. The irony is Lucy also died at 10:45 pm. His health has been in decline the past couple months. He passed away surrounded by his surviving children, his daughter-in-law Liz, and me.
Please keep them in your thoughts and prayers.
Filed under family, rebuilding
The thunderstorm last night did very little damage. There were two impressive wind blasts that ripped through. My poor little anemometer showed a peak gust of 22 mph, but according to the Beaufort scale, the wind was roaring at close to 60 mph at times. I did get about ½” of rain. Here’s hoping I get a chance to mow the yard this week. I filled my yard waste container just with the clumps of leaves ripped from the silver maples. Thank you to everyone for the birthday wishes! It’s amazing how many restaurants start giving a senior discount at 55. Lucy was quite the bargain hunter and was looking forward to my birthday this year. I have a goodly stack of Buy One Get One (BOGO) free offers. The problem is most of them are expiring between the 11th and the 18th. Lucy’s birthday was February 5th. We would each sign up for these offers. The six month spread meant we could burn off the calories by the time the next wave of offers came through. Please keep my father-in-law in your thoughts and prayers. He’s had a terrible year and is battling some health issues. Losing my mother-in-law and Lucy eight months apart has not helped. He’s one of the nicest people in the world, too. It’s still insane at work. I went in for several hours today and will get use the VPN tonight to try getting a bit more stuff done. The yard work is slipping a bit and the kitchen is getting cluttered. Lucy wouldn’t be happy with that. The rain perked up the tamarisk, and the blue flax is reblooming. The white flax might bloom again. The Rudbeckia plants are blooming or close, and the bee balm and Echinacea are having a banner year. Even the clematis plants which got pummeled in a previous wind storm are blooming like crazy. I’m still trapping Japanese beetles, but it looks like they are winding down. I’m finding cicada skins all over the place and even got to see the final minutes of one emerging from the beetle skin and becoming a green flying insect. The dragonflies are plentiful and I saw a few iridescent damselflies this year despite the drought. I did have to see Lucy today. Even when I was doing the heavy business traveling, we always managed to spend time with each other for our birthdays. The string is still intact, though I will miss her birthday kiss. That’s one of the large number of adjustments one makes after losing a spouse. There are so many little things that go into a marriage, yet when all those little things are gone, it leaves a gaping hole. It’s also part of the healing process. One learns to adjust and keep trying to move forward. Thank you again for the birthday wishes!
Lucy’s bouquet from the cemetery
Filed under family, gardening, rebuilding, weather
Eddie Cochran had a hit with this song in the late 1950’s. Eddie was born in Albert Lea, MN, about 12 miles north of my hometown of Emmons, MN. Tonight is Borderfest in Emmons, and for my readers attending tonight, have fun and I’ll try to make it next year. I didn’t find out about Borderfest until 6:00 pm tonight.
Anyway, Eddie was wrong. Spending time with my sisters-in-law today was a cure for the blues. Thank you, Suzy and Julie, for sharing your scarce free time with me today. I wish you knew how much it brightened my day, and I hope I brightened your each of days a bit, too. It was the first Saturday I did not go into the office since Memorial Day. I’m sure I’ll pay for it on Monday.
The three of us went to visit Carver Country Flowers and Gifts this morning. If you’re in the area, stop in and kindly support Annette and Al in the Mission: Small Business grant initiative! Their shop is also on Facebook (Julie, you were asking about this earlier). Afterwards, we got to visit my father-in-law for an hour.
I set out the Japanese beetle traps and I am getting some of the vile creatures contained. Instead of using the rather expensive disposable bags, I modified mine to use the top portion of the bag, a sprinkler system hose coupler, and some one-liter Powerade bottles. I attached the top half of the bag to the top half of the coupler with a pair of zip ties, and the bottom half of the coupler went through a hole I drilled in the Powerade bottle cap. The bottle contains a few drops of Apple Fresh Dawn dish soap in 8 oz. of water. The soap weakens the water’s surface tension and the beetles sink rather than float. There is no escape once the critters slide through the bag into the bottle. I dump the water every other day.
I managed to pick a little over a pint of berries tonight despite the mosquito onslaught. The dry spell is slowing down the berry production. There are a couple of chances for rain this week, so I’m going to let nature do the watering for me.
I hope everyone is having good weather. Enjoy some quality time with your spouse, significant other, or kids tonight.
Today’s raspberry and blackberry harvest.
Filed under family, gardening, music, rebuilding
I’ve been battling some sort of stomach bug for the past four days and I’m still putting in a bit of overtime at work. So to my father and father-in-law, your Father’s Day cards will be a day or two late. To the both of you, thank you for all your support and patience. It has made me a better person.
I’m starting to figure out some of the concepts of the various technologies, but it’s been a slow process. It’s frustrating because I usually pick up programming languages and other technologies very quickly. I’m looking at the process as “short-term pain for long-term gain”. The questionable part is defining “short-term”.
We’re out of the monsoon season, but we are still getting enough rain so that I have not had to water anything but the pansy bowl in front and the Impatiens in back. The mini glads have shot out of the ground, the dahlias and cannas are over a foot tall, and the mystery Delphinium I moved earlier in the season is a deep purple. Lucy only bought true blue Delphiniums so this one is courtesy of a bird. All the shrub roses are in full bloom and the climbing rose has bountiful blooms. Lucy’s lilies are looking better than ever. I’ll be picking about a pint of blackberries in a couple of weeks and five or six quarts of raspberries in early July. Lucy loved this time of year when everything was blooming and green. I’m sure she is happy her gardens are doing so well.
For those of you who can, give your father (or father figure) a big hug today. Trust me, they have earned it!
Filed under family, gardening, rebuilding, weather
Today marks two months since Lucy’s passing.
It was another long day at work, and the indications are this is not going to get better for the next month or longer.
Suzy was over tonight to pick up some magazines. It was nice seeing a friendly face today.
Happy birthday to Ardelle tomorrow.
Give your loved ones a hug tonight and make the hug meaningful.
Filed under family, rebuilding