10 June, 2020 - Pulling and Piling Weeds & Enjoying Unexpected Sunshine
Dear, Mom -
(Note to Joy or Whomever reads this to Mom: If the following paragraph seems like it will be too upsetting for Mom, just go past it. I have to write it or I won't be able to process how I feel. I will leave it up to you to decide. Thank you. I appreciate what you do for my Mom.)
Mom, I just want you to know that I am sorry I cannot be there with you right now. Whenever I think about not being able to visit you, I get upset. I get upset for both of us. I know it is hard for you not to see me and it is very hard for me not to see you. It makes me depressed because I'm not sure how long it will be. There will be a time, but things in the world hold an uncertainty and it is hard to even try to predict when there will be a sense of normality back in our lives. If I had the means, I would come scoop you up and take you somewhere where we could just see this whole thing out together, but that is not the path we have been made to walk so we just have to be patient. I try to think of the face you make when I say something silly. It lifts my spirits and makes me feel better. I just needed to let you know, just like the day I wrote you the first letter, I haven't abandoned you and you are what makes my heart whole. When the doors are open for me to walk through, I will be there. Don't worry. Enjoy your life with your friends until then and then we can once again enjoy it together.
Today, I relaxed for a bit then got to work out in the yard again. Paula has a Toyota truck and I filled up a lot of the bed of the truck with weeds from the back yard that were growing between my neighbors garage and out metal shed. It is under another neighbor's huge pine tree. There is a foot of duff, or pine needles, back there that need to be scooped up. I got most of the top layer of weeds, but tomorrow, after work, I will probably try and get a good two inches of needles scooped up and ready to haul away. Some of the weeds that were back there had a milky residue that gave me a rash when it touched my skin. It was so humid that I had taken off my sweatshirt because I was overheating. I wish I would have left it on. My whole right arm is covered in a rash. It doesn't itch, it is just sensitive to touch. I put some campho phenique on it after I had my shower and I don't really notice it now. It just looks really red. After that, I cut down about 10 feet worth of ferns growing along the fence line between Paula and Birgit's house and ours. I like ferns, but there really needed to be cut back. I also trimmed the variegated hydrangea and the jasmine bushes that were hanging down. It just makes the yard look more maintained, but oh boy, it was a lot of work.
I did take Elsa the dog to the park this morning so she could run around and roll in the grass a bit.
She loves it. There are so many trees there that she can run around and chase squirrels, too. Soon after I took the above picture, we came upon an interesting scene. A squirrel had stole a piece of pizza from some crows. The crows were not at all happy about this and were intermittently chasing the squirrel up the tree. The squirrel would climb 6 or so feet, stop, chew on the pizza and taunt the crows, then the crow would try and fly and steal the pizza from the squirrel. This went on until the squirrel was about 30 ft up the tree. We couldn't see after that, so we carried on. I tried to get a picture of the squirrel eating the pizza, but my phone's camera just couldn't zoom in enough. At least it is a story I could tell you because while it was happening, it was pretty funny. I don't think the crows appreciated my laughter about their stolen pizza.
My purpletop vervain (verbena family) finally started blooming. This is a flower on a very tall stem that actually comes from South America. When you have a bunch of them together, they are beautiful. Mine are coming up from last year and a bit sporadically. I don't mind, though. That end of the flower bed is a bit of a tossed salad when it comes to last years flowers coming back.
Tomorrow, along with some more clean up, I have to get the lawn mowed unless there isn't rain in the forecast. If so, I will hold off until Friday. Once I get that done, I think I will take a rest on the yard and concentrate on the gutters. It never ends, but I need to get some repair done so that the water actually runs into the gutter and not behind it, dripping down from the roof. This is what comes when you own a dock workers' shift shack built in 1900. I think it has been 120 yrs since some things have been new or decades since things have been updated.
Hae a wonderful day, Mom. I will try to talk to you today. It is always so nice to see you and hear your sweet voice. I love you, I miss you...sending a big HUG and a big KISS! - Your Gal, Sal
(Note to Joy or Whomever reads this to Mom: If the following paragraph seems like it will be too upsetting for Mom, just go past it. I have to write it or I won't be able to process how I feel. I will leave it up to you to decide. Thank you. I appreciate what you do for my Mom.)
Mom, I just want you to know that I am sorry I cannot be there with you right now. Whenever I think about not being able to visit you, I get upset. I get upset for both of us. I know it is hard for you not to see me and it is very hard for me not to see you. It makes me depressed because I'm not sure how long it will be. There will be a time, but things in the world hold an uncertainty and it is hard to even try to predict when there will be a sense of normality back in our lives. If I had the means, I would come scoop you up and take you somewhere where we could just see this whole thing out together, but that is not the path we have been made to walk so we just have to be patient. I try to think of the face you make when I say something silly. It lifts my spirits and makes me feel better. I just needed to let you know, just like the day I wrote you the first letter, I haven't abandoned you and you are what makes my heart whole. When the doors are open for me to walk through, I will be there. Don't worry. Enjoy your life with your friends until then and then we can once again enjoy it together.
Today, I relaxed for a bit then got to work out in the yard again. Paula has a Toyota truck and I filled up a lot of the bed of the truck with weeds from the back yard that were growing between my neighbors garage and out metal shed. It is under another neighbor's huge pine tree. There is a foot of duff, or pine needles, back there that need to be scooped up. I got most of the top layer of weeds, but tomorrow, after work, I will probably try and get a good two inches of needles scooped up and ready to haul away. Some of the weeds that were back there had a milky residue that gave me a rash when it touched my skin. It was so humid that I had taken off my sweatshirt because I was overheating. I wish I would have left it on. My whole right arm is covered in a rash. It doesn't itch, it is just sensitive to touch. I put some campho phenique on it after I had my shower and I don't really notice it now. It just looks really red. After that, I cut down about 10 feet worth of ferns growing along the fence line between Paula and Birgit's house and ours. I like ferns, but there really needed to be cut back. I also trimmed the variegated hydrangea and the jasmine bushes that were hanging down. It just makes the yard look more maintained, but oh boy, it was a lot of work.
I did take Elsa the dog to the park this morning so she could run around and roll in the grass a bit.
She loves it. There are so many trees there that she can run around and chase squirrels, too. Soon after I took the above picture, we came upon an interesting scene. A squirrel had stole a piece of pizza from some crows. The crows were not at all happy about this and were intermittently chasing the squirrel up the tree. The squirrel would climb 6 or so feet, stop, chew on the pizza and taunt the crows, then the crow would try and fly and steal the pizza from the squirrel. This went on until the squirrel was about 30 ft up the tree. We couldn't see after that, so we carried on. I tried to get a picture of the squirrel eating the pizza, but my phone's camera just couldn't zoom in enough. At least it is a story I could tell you because while it was happening, it was pretty funny. I don't think the crows appreciated my laughter about their stolen pizza.
My purpletop vervain (verbena family) finally started blooming. This is a flower on a very tall stem that actually comes from South America. When you have a bunch of them together, they are beautiful. Mine are coming up from last year and a bit sporadically. I don't mind, though. That end of the flower bed is a bit of a tossed salad when it comes to last years flowers coming back.
Tomorrow, along with some more clean up, I have to get the lawn mowed unless there isn't rain in the forecast. If so, I will hold off until Friday. Once I get that done, I think I will take a rest on the yard and concentrate on the gutters. It never ends, but I need to get some repair done so that the water actually runs into the gutter and not behind it, dripping down from the roof. This is what comes when you own a dock workers' shift shack built in 1900. I think it has been 120 yrs since some things have been new or decades since things have been updated.
Hae a wonderful day, Mom. I will try to talk to you today. It is always so nice to see you and hear your sweet voice. I love you, I miss you...sending a big HUG and a big KISS! - Your Gal, Sal
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