Say What?

It was 30 years ago today that I moved into our home. That's a long time and by far the longest I've lived in one place. I was 34 years old and full of ambition—ambition I was going to need. The summer of 1992 would be a very busy summer for me with numerous landscaping projects that I'd drawn up on graph paper and needed to bring to life. I had 10 dumptruck loads of topsoil brought in and spread throughout our lot because of the poor soil condition that existed. The only other labor I paid for was to have a guy trench two main lines for our lawn irrigation system and I hired a bobcat driver to punch 50 pre-marked holes in the ground where shrubs would go. I think that was the best $50 I've ever spent. And no, I can't imagine purchasing a new home today and having to do all of the work I had to do 30 years ago to get our home up to speed. My level of ambition isn't quite what it once was. Our home has been through a number of changes in the past 3 decades with...

This is my favorite time of year. I love the freshness of spring as perennials push up from hiding underground and trees begin to leaf out and come to life. Birds chatter like no other time of year as their songs break the morning quiet. I try as best I can to live in this moment and take it all in; savoring it. Tammy's favorite color is the green of budding trees. I look forward to hearing her comment at some point each spring about the beauty of the color.  Tammy and I spent a good part of last weekend shopping for flowers for our gardens and getting them in the ground. It's nice to have the work mostly done because it's a rather big job—my aching muscles and rough raw hands are reminders. We still have some flower pots to fill before we're done—preferably filled with something less tasty than begonias for the many deer that see them as a bowlful of greens to feast on.  Steve and I have been getting out golfing once each week now that the courses are all up and runni...