Happy Anniversary!

Tomorrow is our 38th Wedding Anniversary!
Look at that young and innocent couple (and skinny!) in that photo up there!

It has been a helluva ride - and I hope it continues for a lot longer!

There are things I would change - but it all has made for quite a story.....and I definitely would not chang my life partner nor my family!

Happy Anniversary Honey!

To Catch Up

So I was a work last Sunday when hubby called.....and when he starts off with "Now don't worry, everyone is all right" I immediately break down.

Son was supposed to drive the Uhaul trailer to TN for his sister (sometimes they just boost my faith in family!!) but the trailer didnt wok so he was driving a Uhaul truck, towing their (packed) Matrix. In Wyoming a passing semi lost a tire which bounced over, bounced off the very end of the Uhaul and hit the tow trailer and hit the Matrix.

Spun him out of control - but thank goodness, if it had to happen to anyone on this trip it happened to the one driver with the most experience like this. Guess it blew out the tire on the trailer. So he had a delay getting all this taken care of.

BUT HE WAS OK.

And, after the misunderstanding of my husband, the car was even driveable.

But - and this makes a mom very nervous - the adrenaline kept him going and he drove allt he way thru. Got into Chattanooga Monday ..... checked into a motel and sleptsleptslept (after his first priority which he said was a shower!).

He then was still able to drive the Matrix to visit a friend - and flew home Wed.

Now yesterday we got the other reassuring news - not only is DD and family safe and sound in Chattanooga - they even have an apt. Today they are supposed to be unpacking the uhaul and moving in. Tomorrow they will be looking for some replacement furniture (anyone know of any nice consignment shops in the Chattanooga area???)

So now my worries can ease off....about the travel...for now!!

And we are adjusting our lives to include DD 14 year olf baby girl - her Althea.

Last Trip to Fallon Nevada

Funny, makes me think of the song Last Train to Nashville and they are moving to Chattanooga....Afterwe left Fallon to come home, me crying 1/2 the way home, the first song as I was scanning thru radio stations was dedicated to someone in "Chattanooga TN".

Hot and tiring days getting them packed up. Breaking my heart seeing my daughter get to that point we all get - when you just sy, if we cant fit it, throw it away.....

They made a few $$$ on an impromptu yard sale and I am sure the pickers were happy when they finally left so that they could come back and get some of the things for free! We ended up bringing some items back here to try and sell.

So the original plan was son was going to tow a UHaul trailed to TN for them and they were going to drive and tow their other car. That fell thru. Son drove a UHaul truck towing their car (with a Princess jeep strapped to the top! LOL! And the ar itself fully packed too!). In Wyoming he was in an accident when a tire flew off a semi going in the other direction and hit the tow car, and spun him around. Lukcily he was not hurt (in a way I am glad it was him driving then cause he knew what to do - and none of the grand kids were with him). But that ate up time. Apprently the car and tow trailed took the brunt of it but the car is still driveable (which I found out just a little while ago when he called to say he was safe in Chattanooga - thank goodness!).

So now we are trying to find/book a flight for him back home. Anyone know anyone flying their own plane home from Atlanta that could bring him home?

So one worry out of the way.....just have to worry now about daughter and family getting there.

This sucks big time! And yet we (hubby and I) did it to our parents....and my parents, and his dad, did it to their parents.....but I dont like being on the other side of it at all!

My Hero

He is my hero is so many ways, but I am o proud of my husband. Late spring he was told her had pre-diabetes.

Scared him to ...well, to checking his sugar 4x/day as the doc wanted him to. Now, this is a man who will not even look at a needle ON TV! And here he is checking his blood sugar by pricking his finger 4x/day, 7 days a week.

And the worst part - this all occurred right before we went on vacation to areas where we talked as much about the food as the activities we planned to do there! On the other hand, while on vacation we visited an uncle of his and found out that diabetes is very prevalent in that side of his family which I think made him ever more determined to beat this!

And even tho we both knew we needed to be on diets, and he is on meds for high blood pressure and high cholesterol, it was this diagnosis that motivated him.

He walks in the neighborhood for an hour each morning. One day a week he plays golf. Almost every other day - sometimes 7 days a week, sometimes only 6 - he works out a the gym for 1 hour - 1.5 hours.

And in Approx 2.5 3 months, he has lost 28 lbs!

His blood pressure is down - his labs are so good he was REJECTED for a clinical study on cholesterol + diabetes....

Now, I dont walk like he does, and since I still work I cannot get to the gym as often as he does. But we go on my days off. My eating habits have changed to match his - after all, it wouldn be fair would it, to eat like I want to and he cant....And the most amazing thing is - I dont miss the junk as much as I thought I would.

The downside tho is my weight is creeping down, unlike his. But I can feel a difference in my clothes, so I am slimming in some ways. Yes, honestly, it does make me jealous...

But it all makes me so proud of him!

Phase 2 Has Begun

Moved the plant stand with the yellow watering can out from the backyard. You cant really see it but on the second level of the stand is this beautiful rock. Found it about a foot+ under the ground when hubby was planting a plant - the big lavendars out near the front. Beautiful rock. Not sure how it ended up under there.

So at this point we have the blueberry plant, 3 grasses, 2 lavendars of of type and one
of another; 3 verbenas; a salvia and a black eyed susan. Hopeully they will all live. Plenty more to go but now we need to work on Phase 3 and get the drip irrigation lines out there.
See the beautiful hand made, one of a kind Native American pottery to the right and in front of the flag? LOL. Bought it for $1 at the Lions Club rummage sale in Fallon the last time we were there. The guy who priced it was a crack up - had to buy it no matter what after that sales job!

Planted that really pretty rust colored grass in it and placed it to hide the water faucets from the street.

That antique iron firebox we got at a garage sale in Walnut Creek. It is iron and heavy as can be and still smells of smoke.

Phase 1

Dang it, these are out of order and I dont feel like playing with them to fix it. So just bear with me.

When we first moved into this house, the front yard was rocks, with the 3 palm trees. They weren't too high yet. Unexplicably the one in the center had a circle of cement around it.

Eventually we replaced the rocks with lawn. Twice. And fought the battle of all hot and dry places to keep the lawn alive. And we lost.

So we said - we are done! And decided to go to a drought friendly/native plant solution. So we finally got a deal on taking out those godawful palms (which meanwhile had grown taller than the house and were havens for squirrels, birds, and probably rats) - and the cement circle around the middle one. Covered the whole yard with cardboard and then topped that off with mulch we got from a tree service.

Let it sit a month or so....meanwhile the neighbors think we have totally gone off our gourd and we still have a small pile of the mulch on our driveway.

This weekend we started some planting. Replanted the blueberry bush from a contianer (I want to getat least one more) and a lavendar from a container. Then we planted 2 more, but different types, of lavendar, a salvia, and 2 grasses. We have only begun! This is a work in progress and may take a couple of years to get done. I want more salvia and some agapanthas next...hubby wants some succulents/cactus.

Will get some current photos soon and post them.
(Original pile o mulch on the driveway with some of the work in progress)

(Middle mound built. We had looked at several yards on a special garden tour this spring. I did not like the small yards that had these big mounds; altho we know these will compact down, we wanted rolling and not hilly)

(Bare and ready to go as soon as we can gather enough cardboard; get some topsoil; and find a tree service willing to drop off their mulch - why not? It saves them dmp fees!)

(Getting rid of the palms - before they were ground down; you can see where the concrete circle was)