Let's Wrap It Up!

Just like life, it's so much harder to catch up once you let things slide. But I said I would, and I will. So here it is in a nutshell.

While mowing the grass one day in May there were a couple of gusts of wind, and when I went to the back to mow there, what did I find? My beautiful red maple, age 3, had sheared right down the middle. Chillax came later and helped cut it up and remove it. It broke my heart to see the tree damaged, but I tended its wound and hoped for the best. Guess what? It continued to grow and even continued to provide shade.

June---Even more blah than May.

July--the Dagromms came for the 4th, actually arriving on the third. Dagromm, ever the dutiful son, asked what he could do to help me. I eagerly suggested mowing the lawn. He agreed to do it and did. I stood in the shade of the red maple to take this photo. His quick agreement was due in part to the fact that he and the children wanted to shoot fireworks in the yard on the 4th, and they did. It was a lot of fun. Then he and Mrs. Dagromm went home leaving their offspring with me for a week (the true mowing incentive). We had a few adventures.

No doubt, I have previously mentioned that I am currently the president of our local orchid society. Well, shortly after the children left, one of our board members and she was also the monthly raffle chairman, resigned from the board (via e-mail) and all responsibilities, and brought 74 raffle plants for me to tend. She said she would bring the rest later. I read and re-read the by-laws, and no where did it say this was the responsibility of the president.

On the 23rd we had a quick storm, and this time I heard the "pop" and discovered the red maple was a goner.


August---On the third of the month I drove to Jackson, Mississippi, to pick up Goo who came home for a week. The high points of that trip, aside from seeing her, were I got to see rain in quantity near the state line, and on the way home a dead alligator on the side of the road---the most memorable road kill of my experience. We had a fun week, went "estate sale-ing" with Jaz, watched some outstanding videos, and just relaxed. Taking her to the airport on the eleventh was a downer.

But a couple of days before she left the aforementioned orchid society member brought another 60+ plants to my house for me to tend. Thanks, ever so. Goo labeled her deranged. I contacted several other members of the society, and I managed to farm out most of the plants to foster homes and only wound up with about 30 to take care of myself. The majority of all of these were unloaded at our annual picnic/auction in Oct. In the meantime I conducted the raffle as well as the meetings for Aug., Sept., and Nov. She has now decided she is ready to resume her duties, and I was ready to return all the paraphernalia to her ASAP. (Why did I think working with pre-schoolers was getting too hard for me?)

September---I finally began sewing the display drapes for the orchid society.

October---You've already heard about my fantastic birthday. Jaz and I had another one of our outstanding yard sales. In the meantime I finished sewing the display drapes for the orchid society to use in its displays in various shows. Here they are in my living room.

The finished length is 7 feet. It was a massive sewing project; I did six panels. Each one is 5 feet wide. I learned to use the blind stitch selection on my mother's old Singer. Keep learning!---that's my motto. I still need to make some swags, but I'm in no rush on that chore. I also helped with two out of town shows by making all the plant labels for the shows, and going to Monroe to help take down a display.

During the last half of the month and the first part of Nov. I was sick and waited far too long to go see the doctor. When I finally did I wound up with a shot, a Rx for an antibiotic, and two kinds of decongestants. I will eventually get all this crud out of my system.

November---Well, obviously the big moment here was Thanksgiving. Chillax, Jaz, and Oyster were here. Jaz did the turkey, pie, and bread, and I did the other stuff. We ate very well and watched A Christmas Story, one of the funniest movies ever, after our meal. It was a really good day though Chill was feeling a little down (another upper respiratory story). He did, however, help me get down some of the Christmas decorations from the attic. I have really good sons, you know. (My daughters are o.k. too; they're just so far away.)

Anyway, are we caught up now? If I've left out anything you need to know about, tell me, and I'll do whatever I can to rectify the situation. The pets seem to be o.k.; they're just aging like this writer. And if you've read this far, please, post a comment. Sometimes this feels like speaking to the wind.