Several hot , muggy , rainy days have gone by since my last update. Twila and I made a run to for more materials and we are ready to put in the last of the plants for this first area. It is really starting to look like a real ( almost ) finished project and I now have only the concrete Texas to complete to do to finish the first part and it actually looks pretty good ( if all the plants actually take hold and start to fill it in.
First part today was unloading all supplies from our last trip to Lowes.They are starting to really love us there. Then took my file and sharpened the shovel and the trowels. Even with all the recent rain , the clay is still not that easy to work through
Then we started putting smaller succulents along the edge. Hard to see in the pictures ,but they are there.
Moved a lot of the removed material from the rock garden and relocated it around the tree which prompted all this effort by killing all our plantings .
Next work area . May in fact start on this before doing the concrete. Kinda depends on the weather.
Still trying to decide if I will blade off the sod and relocate it or just cover it all with newspaper and let it die . Stripping it off is really a pain , but I have a large bare area on the side of the house where it MIGHT take root if I first spread a layer of mixed garden soil and sand and then put pieces of the stripped off sod on top and water it good.
I'm starting to really feel comfortable about being retired. I have to admit it is really nice being able to just roll over and go back to sleep when Twila kisses me and leaves for work at 6:30. I get up (eventually ) and take a shower and make some kind of breakfast - sometimes full blown , sometimes just a banana or a bagel. And then sometimes I either just spend a while reading the paper or SOMETIMES I take a nap. SWEET .
This has been a tough week to deal with emotionally. It's the anniversary of my father passing away and I got a text from a friend in California telling me my first boss when I went to work at COMPAQ had passed away after a long bout with leukemia. He went through chemo and radiation treatment and within the last year he underwent a bone marrow transplant which just didn't fix the problem.
Neither of my parents ever could be persuaded to learn how to use a computer and it is highly doubtful that either of them would have ever attempted to read this blog or my son's blog ( jacobswellproject.blogspot.com ) about the projects we are undertaking. I truly believe they would have enjoyed seeing the pictures of our efforts and would have been proud of what we were doing and what we were trying to achieve. My mom especially felt I got a raw deal because I was born almost 2 months premature because of the effects on her of the DONORA SMOG of October 1948 ( I was born that December ) . I wasn't expected to live because of how small and - let's say "unformed " - I was at birth. All the way up through high school I was one of the smallest in my class , and suffered from respiratory problems , allergies , bouts of pneumonia , and chronic ear and nasal infections. When I finally hit my twenties I started to attain my full growth and stature . Then an inherent arthritic condition , a form of rheumatoid arthritis ( ankylosing spondylitis ) , flat out began to kick my ass. In it's initial assault on my system I had severe back pain and muscle spasms and neck pain due to the growth of spurs on my cervical vertebrae. To put it simply , I developed severe scoliosis as my spine and all attendant structures calcified from hips to head and everything was reshaped as my back muscles pulled things one way or another. An x-ray of my spine taken during my physical exam for disability had the appearance of a river road ,twisting back and forth. I went from 6'1"to my present almost 5'9" , although , since I can't stand upright , that's like as close a guess as can be made to my actual height. Although the chronic pain has subsided , I still am fairly limited in my physical activity and capability. I do my best to take meds as seldom as possible , but muscle relaxers and Ibuprofen are sometimes welcome additions to my diet.
All of this is to say , as long as I don't over exert myself or try to " reach beyond my grasp " I am capable of doing things my parents might have believed were beyond me . It's taken me a long time and sometimes been a very rough , tough ride to get here. But I'm not done yet , and I believe they would have both appreciated that and urged me to keep moving ahead. I hope they would have enjoyed seeing me through this.
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