March 31

    

    It's been a long day.  Tim had to get up at 3:00 this morning.  I didn't have to get up until 4:15.  Apparently, I forgot to tell the dogs because they got me up at 3:30 to go outside.  By the time they were done and back inside it was too close to the alarm going off to bother going back to bed.  Ah well, at least it was a nice day.  No sunshine, but the temperature was a very pleasant 62 degrees!  I think Spring might finally be coming.

    Mom called Megan this morning to make sure she got up for school.  That's going to have to do for nearly the whole rest of the school year because Mom had surgery on her foot Friday to remove a bunion and move a bone so that she doesn't end up with a hammer-toe.  Mom and both of her sisters have (well, had) really horrible bunions and all have now had the surgery.  They keep telling me it is hereditary, but so far I don't show any signs of it and I am pretty sure they were all well on their way at my age.  Anyway, unless the doctor told her different today she will be completely off her feet except for trips to the bathroom for two weeks.  After that she is to get one of those inflatable boots and be able to get around a little for four weeks.

    I spent some time looking at gardening magazines and books today.  The warm weather definitely has me in the mood to get out into the yard.  I did a walk around before I went back to work this afternoon and while the ground is a little spongy in places it is finally beginning to dry out.  For weeks it was so wet an inch or so of water was lying on top of the ground.  What a mess that was!  But back to the walk around....I wanted to see how things were faring after the winter and what was beginning to show signs of life.  The Tiger Lilies are popping up like crazy.  The banana tree doesn't look like it made it.  There is something growing over by the shadynook that looks like it's some kind of tree or shrub type of thing.  I can't remember what I planted there.  Oops!  The corkscrew willow worries me.  It has a double trunk that we think may have been a graft and it looks more and more like it may split one day and the rest of the trunk seems to be developing round, balls.  I don't know if it has a disease or what.  We cut down one of the maples at the end of the driveway in the Fall.  We need to cut the other down, too.  Before it drops a big branch on the car or something.  Those were both older than me and they definitely had something wrong with them.....every summer they got little brown bumps all over the leaves.  Whatever the bumps are they jumped the driveway and infected the maple on the other side, too.  It is a younger tree, planted since we moved here, and it seems to have affected it's growth.  It is really not a good looking tree.  I have been begging to have it cut down for several years now.  It looks like Tim might take them down at some point, because yesterday he was looking at fruit trees at Lowe's and saying that a couple of them would be good at the end of the driveway.

    Not so much is happening with the container gardening.  It's still way too early for that, but I have been looking online and in catalogs for ideas of what I want to try growing.  I probably won't order much from the catalogs as I don't really want to start plants from seeds except for things you have to like lettuce, radishes, spinach, etc.  I'd rather support local nurseries, but I have a list of what to look for and things to consider; like pollination, heat, water, disease resistance, etc.  I just have to start catching Tim when he's got a bit of time here and there (easier said than done) so he can start building me some moveable containers.

    My Uncle Bern died today.  He was the last of my grandparents' generation.  He was 96.  He had been in a home for several years and I haven't seen him for even longer.  His sons were home from Philadelphia over the weekend so they got to see him one last time.  They aren't having a service and I guess they haven't decided whether to bury him in Conneaut Lake or take him back to Philly.  My aunt was cremated and Mom doesn't know where she went.  They both loved animals and took in so many strays over the years so the family is making a donation to the library and asking them specifically to purchase books about animals for the children.

    Tim should be home soon and supper will be ready by then.  We are having City Chicken (no chicken involved).  It is one of Meg's favorites and she has been asking for it for a while.  It's very simple but it has to cook for an hour or more.  It's delicious, though, so worth the wait, I guess.

 

 

April 1

 

    I saw Mom for a while this morning.  She saw her doctor and is in a new "walking" boot.  The doctor couldn't find anything wrong with her heel, so apparently it was the other boot that was causing her all the pain.  She is getting around a little with a walker...just from the bedroom to the living room and back.

    The Spring weather took a bit of a nose dive today.  It was warm this morning, but very cloudy and windy all day.  The temperature dropped 10 degrees or more this afternoon and we had some rain.  Not enough to flood the ground that has so recently dried out, though, so that's a good thing.

    On my drive home from work tonight I was sitting at the traffic light in Ligonier when an elderly gentleman knocked on the window of the car.  He nearly gave me a heart attack!  He wanted to tell me I had a flat tire.  I am so glad he made the effort.  Since there is a gas station right there by the light I pulled in and gave Tim a call.  Since it was April Fool's Day I had a hard time convincing him I really did have a flat.  I had pulled in right by the air pump, but wouldn't you know....Tim had the bank card with him and I didn't have two nickels to rub together.  We just bought all four tires new in February so we have 24hr. Roadside Assistance.  They'll come and put the spare on for you, but that's all.  As I was digging around for the number for that, another man knocked on the window and asked if I needed help putting air in the tire.  I told him I was going to call for assistance and that I didn't have any money on me.  Well, he dug around in his car until he found two quarters and put them in the air pump and pumped up my tire for me!  I was able to drive then to the garage where we bought the tires and because we have road hazard coverage they patched the tire for free.  Turns out there was a very large thorn stuck in it!  Anyway, Good Samaritans are alive and well in Ligonier and I am awfully glad of it!

 

 

April 6

 

    We enjoyed a lazy morning today, lounging around the living room, reading the paper, and watching movies.  Sunday mornings are always a very welcome time after Tim having worked the other six days of the week.  It was extra welcome today as we were up late last night waiting for Megan to get home.  We are entering another new phase as our baby girl begins to date.  The boy came to the house Friday night so we could meet him and stayed for a couple of hours, then last evening they went "mudding" (driving through mud and muck up the ridge in 4x4s) with a group of other kids.  The boy seems very nice, but he is (just turned) 19 to her (not quite) 16 so we are watching very closely.

    Anyway, the weather was beautiful today....sunny and in the low 60s.  Tim spent the afternoon cleaning up the shadynook and the yard and getting the grill ready to go for another season.  Then since it was ready......he did steak and chicken kabobs for supper.  Mmm-mmm!

    It looks like the weather is going to remain mild all week so hopefully we will get some more work done outside.  Thank heavens Spring has finally decided to show up!