Let the Growing Begin!

Tammy is rocking the gardening thing this year! We always take one day each spring to go shopping for flowers. It's a big undertaking considering all of the flower gardens we have so it's best done as a team, plus we always love doing it together. Our schedules weren't lining up so well so Tammy offered to go out last Friday and get most of what we needed before the hordes of weekend shoppers scarfed them up.

I came home from work Friday night and she was excited to take me out and show me what she'd picked out. I had the biggest smile on my face. She did really well! Not only that but when I came home from work Saturday afternoon she was well on her way to having them all in the ground. Wow!

We went out Monday morning to find some hanging baskets for our deck and front step. The finishing touch to our outdoor work was an herb garden I made for her as a Mother's Day gift.

Let the growing begin!

We've had some cool weather here and I've been taking advantage of it by getting the pups out walking more than I usually do with two walks a day. They're loving it but I'm worried that they're going to expect me to do this every day. I just know that once the warm weather arrives, Toby and Allie will have a difficult time doing these sort of distances. They'll be 12 this summer and I don't want to push them too hard. We've done 4 miles each of the last two days with this walk broken up into two segments.

Toby is so adorable. He pretty much leads the way and he knows which roads lead to home and which ones will add distance to the walk. He was especially happy these last two days when I gave in to his pleadings to add the Fleet Farm kicker to our walk thereby adding an additional 15 minutes. It's tough to look into those sweet, aging eyes of his and say no. Usually once during each walk he'll slow and look at me and I'll know it's his signal for me to bring my face nearer to his so he can jump up and give me a lick. I always interpret it as him saying "Thanks for the walk, Dad!" He's such a sweetheart.

We watched Still Alice a couple nights ago after having read the book. It's a fictional story about a Harvard linguistics professor who is stricken with early-onset Alzheimer's Disease. I know there will be a significant difference between the trials of the woman in the movie compared to Tammy's mother but I think it's important for me to learn whatever I can ahead of time about the disease and its effect on a person's mind.

Yardwork and gardening took up most of my days off. I did manage one nice ride with Hynek: a 45-mile loop out to Hampton. My knees felt much better than normal so I was happy.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

David Crowder Concert, NWA188 and Photo Review

Image
I got up from laying down after the all-night shift Thursday morning and figured I'd better get a ride in while I could because the forecast wasn't looking so good. The temp was just above 40 with a northeast wind steady at 15 mph under overcast skies. 40 degrees is very reasonable cycling weather but the key is to be somewhat chilled when you start out. Being warm and toasty at the beginning leads to being sweaty, cold and clammy before the ride is over. While putting air in my tires before leaving I could tell that I needed a lighter top layer. I'm glad I made the switch. I loved the ride  ( Strava link ) and would like to have gone further but David Crowder was playing at our church and I didn't want to be late getting in line for some good seats as it was general admission. I considered a quick detour by Hosanna on the way home to get a pic of their tour bus but I figured I should really act my age. The concert was worth every penny and better than any of the o...
Read more

Riding, Retirement and a Home Revisited

Image
I skipped out of work a couple hours early today to take advantage of some mild weather. I took the pups for a walk then headed west on my bike putting my heart, lungs, and quads through some paces. It felt so nice to be out there. I'd have stayed out longer but I had to be back to take Rachel to dance class for 5:00. It's possible that today will be the last time I'll have to take her to class if she passes her road test this Thursday. I'd like to have taken some time to hose down my bike. It's full of road salt and that can't be a good thing. Every large vehicle that went past me had a cloud of salt dust trailing in its wake and settling on me. I'll spend some time cleaning it tomorrow and have it ready for a ride on Wednesday after work. Speaking of work—I've been kicking around the idea of bidding on a staff job. Believe me, it's not something I want to do. It's about self-preservation. I want to work another five years to get Rachel thr...
Read more

My Bicycle Ride to Babbitt

Image
Wow, what a trip. In planning for this ride, I figured I’d have only two weekends this summer when our schedules could come together to give it a go. The first of those two times came and went two weeks ago when a steady north wind kept me grounded. There’s no way I could have gone the distance into the wind, and what I was really hoping for was a stiff southwesterly breeze, but that wasn’t in the cards either. After looking at the wind forecast on Wednesday, I told Tammy that it looked as though we were looking at another no-go. I’d been watching the forecast the previous 5 days, and they consistently said to expect a light wind from the southeast. It wouldn’t be a headwind but wouldn’t be much help either. I came home from work on Thursday morning and looked at the forecast again, but it hadn’t changed. I got a couple hours of sleep, then woke up to work in the yard. Then, I decided I wouldn’t let the lack of a tailwind keep me from going…just so long as it wasn’t a headwind. I tol...
Read more