Gardening Progress: The carcasses have been dragged to the tree lawn.

First, I decided to tackle the weeds in the driveway.  I spent hours and hours weeding the driveway on Saturday.  This is the worst of it.  I dug and picked.  I got probably 99% of the weeds.  Works for me.  

See?  Nice! 

Weedy!

Better!

Death and destruction.  We have come to the conclusion that this butterfly bush was no longer alive.  So sad. 

I tried to trim some away myself.  This is how far I got.  I also have a thorn in my paw.  I forgot to have Hubs dig it out.  :(

The milkweed took over the grill area.  The wild black berries took over, too.

Because we believe in keeping it real, I will show you that it got a bit weedy.  We were kind of letting the two back beds go a bit because I didn't want to jostle anything that may be coming back.  We're about 3 weeks behind in the growing cycle.  We had poke weed coming up.  Hubs made that go away. I left it because I was thinking that it is purposeful.  Nope.  Gone. 

Digging out the carcass was harder work than he thought. 

It took Hubs well over an hour.  His back is killing him.  So is mine, but I think it's from weeding. 

Gone are all of the funky reminders of death. 

The wreckage. 

Another weedy bed. 

Planting the new butterfly bush.  We just couldn't leave that space this year.  We have planted it, watered and mulched it.  I even fed the heck out of it.  Though I normally don't feed, I have to this year.  It was a horrible winter resulting in just awful loss. 

Look at how beautiful it is compared to the gacky death that was there just hours before.

Hubs edged and mulched.  We still had some mulch from last year.  It was good enough for a skim coat.  Fine with me. 

Inspecting his work.

Lookie loo!  So nice! 

And down here, too!  For those interested, we kept with the invasive run of wild blackberries and milkweed.  Butteflies are nectaring at the milkweed and we don't want to pull what could be baby monarch caterpillars.  The milkweed only lasts a few weeks.  We'll let it run its course and we'll pull what is in the grill area.  We'll leave the rest be.  That way, we'll be able to have s'mores at some point this summer. 

The side back bed.  Much better now. 

The tree lawn pile of wreckage.  K helped me haul it. 

The front.  Much nicer than what we used to have going on. 

Bee balm.  Fun stuff!

Perennial geranium.

Butterfly weed. 

Crown vetch, though it was pulled right after this photo.  A bit invasive.  Pretty, though.

White yarrow from Cj's farm.

Potentilla.

Clematis. 

Yellow day lilies.

Milkweed.

Goosenecks, though I just found out today that they are a variety of Loosestrife. 

Baby tomatoes!

The pink yarrow up front. 

White coneflower. 

Cosmos.  Reseeded from last year. 

Purple coneflower. 

Lavender.

Lime green nicotiana that I originally planted in 2007.  I haven't planted it since. 

A new plant.  

My morning glories!  

A day lily volunteer.  Didn't plant it, I promise.

I didn't plant this one, either. 

The top of the rain barrel. 

My guard system for the corn.  The rabbits keep eating it. 

Beans and many lovely flowers! 

This wind is nice.  I wonder what that is over there?

Such a nice breeze to sniff.

\

Mom, you really have to put that thing away.

A butterfly!  A Great Spangled Fritillary.  It made our hearts happy to see that. 

The reason we didn't remove the extraneous milkweed. 

Look! 

A Stag Beetle! 

Ewwww.  And a larval Stag Beetle.  

And a dragonfly.  

A lot of gardening was done this weekend.  Here's to hoping we'll get a lot of butterflies as a result! 

Christmas in July- Pearl Jam style.

K and I stopped by work today to pick up my paycheck.  We were talking to the gallery director and the floor manager when my co-worker, Matt, came by.  "Hold on!  Don't leave!"  He went running.  He came back and handed me a wrapped package.  

Should I open it now?  Is that okay?

This is what was inside.  An insane stack o' PJ boots.  

At first, I thought that they were singles.  "Did you get a huge stack of singles in?"  (He also works at an indie record store in town.)  "They are concerts!"  "Oh, my gosh!  They are!"  Because it could be slightly Sheldon-like, I asked if I could hug him.  It was an incredibly thoughtful gift.  He used to work at Border's. He said that he bought them when they were going out.  He listened to them.  He enjoyed them.  He said that he won't listen to them probably again, but knew that I was looking forward to the fall concert.  How sweet was that?  

As I was loading the PJ bootlegs into iTunes, lookie loo what came up on 10c Radio as I was loading Jones Beach?  

Such an incredibly thoughtful thing to do!  :)

The latest in customer rudeness.

"Helloooooooo!"  The woman was calling from 2 rooms away.  Now, I admit that I'm not a beck and call girl.  I didn't realize she was calling for me.  She and her friend had been very lively with talk the whole way through.  "I'm sorry ma'am, I thought you were talking to your friend."

Lesson 1:  Don't call to the store employees from rooms away out of laziness.  I've had people with small children, disabilities and other sorts of needs.  I'm not saying not to call always.  There are times that there is a need.  Laziness is not a need or a reason.

I had another woman.  She was asserting her made-of-moneyness to me.  It's fine.  I'm an artist and my husband is a park naturalist.  We are rich not by any means.  I suppose that we could be if we really wanted to be, but we agreed that we would only work jobs that we loved.  My husband watched his father stressed out with his job for years.  Not that we're Sheldon and Amy, but in the unwritten marriage contract, this was a piece.  Be happy in your job and if you aren't, fix it until you are.  We are, but we don't get paid a ton.  Fine with us.

"I want you to wrap this item and :motioning with her hands: I want you to . . . "

"Ma'am, I promise, I've got it."

She pays, compliments my wrapping and then says, "Okay, now I have a test for you."

:insert weird look:

"Now YOU have to show me exactly where YOU put that price tag."

:insert smirk and bobbling head:

I picked up the receipt, flipped the page and as I held it up to show her all of the price tags from all of her items I said, "Ma'am, I've been here for 13 years and do a good job."

"Oh!  You did get it!"

"Um, yes. We always take the price tags off.  I understand that sometimes these are the things that can keep people awake and I'd rather have you ask."

"Oh, it would!"

"We take all price tags off so that the office staff can double check our handwriting."

"Oh!"

She and her friend had been quite a treat, so this was the cherry on top.  I love customer tests!  :insert cranky and angry stare:  (Though I admit that no customer was ever snarky enough to term it a "test.") Really?  Could you just politely ask me, just like everyone else, if I got the tag or where it was?  I don't care.  That's fine. Don't treat me like I'm stupid, because I'm not.  Just because I'm standing behind a counter doesn't mean that I'm not good at what I do, have a job that is beneath me or have an education not past the third grade.  I can read, write and while my math skills aren't super, I have an adding machine for that.  I have a degree from a state college and spent 7 years getting it.  I worked 2-3 jobs and any one time while going to college so that I could obtain an education and not be up to my eyeballs in complete unmanageable debt.  I work this job because I, by and large, love this job, love the people that I work for and have flexibility that isn't common anywhere else.  I can be me and not get fired for it.  I can be creative and not necessarily follow the prescribed formula and that is okay.  I'm not asking to be treated as a prized jewel.

Lesson 2:  Just treat me as a human or at least better than you might treat your dog.

Our daughter took us out on a date.

We usually try to walk in the evenings.  K decided that she had a hankerin' for something different.

"We can go play miniature golf & get ice cream."

Hubs and I looked at each other and decided why not.  K had won 2 free games and 2 free cones from the fall Walk A Thon fundraiser that we did at the school.  The weather that was threatening all day had blown over, so we could cruise on out and go.

We opted for ice cream first, but knew that we couldn't take the cones on the course.  The coupons were for free small ice cream cones.  We usually get the kid cones.  The small cones are borderline large in any other realm.  It is also homemade ice cream.  K got blue moon with a smiley face and I had chocolate chip.  "Are you going to eat all of that," asks my otherwise lactose intolerant husband.  "Yes, but if you'd like a bite, you may."

He took a bite.

Since I scored the cone, Hubs got to play the game.  I kept score.  There are two courses side by side. K wanted to play the other, but a slower-than-cold-tar family decided on course 1, so we opted for course 2.  (When we finished, they weren't even 1/2 way through their course.)  Though Hubs won, K spanked him on a few holes.

We took a drive down through the park.  We watched the sunset and looked for wildlife.  (We saw a deer that Hubs decided to back up for all of us to see.  I told him that doesn't scream, "We're from the city," at all.)  Hubs took us for a romantic stop by the local big box for some family supplies.  We arrived home tired and all ready for bed.

It was a nice night.  The humidity dropped, it wasn't too hot and it hadn't gotten too buggy yet.  Our girl shared her prize with us and she didn't have to.  It was a fun time to be had by all.  :)

The Father's Day trip.

I'm a little late on this post.  1.  I forgot I had taken these photos and 2. The church rummage sale ate up all of the time I had from the time I took the photos.  

We skipped church on Father's Day and went for a family trip to Toledo, Magee Marsh and to Marblehead.  We had a delightful time!

An Eagle's nest that they have at Magee Marsh.  They had to block off part of the parking lot in order to give the nest the privacy it needs.

We were there for the May Fly hatch!  :insert slightly sarcastic tone:  They were everywhere.  This one was pick-pocketing Hubs pocket.

Hello, Monarch!  We fear we won't see many of you this year.  Last winter absolutely wreaked havoc on our gardens.  

The no trespassing, Eagles are nesting here, sign.

Quite a delightful trail.  We arrived a little too late for the migration and with the May Fly hatch, we didn't hang too long. 

If you thought I was lying about the May Flies, I wasn't.  Look at them hanging thick on the Milkweed.  

My people at the lake.  Lake Erie, to be exact.  Hubs is wearing his binocular straps.  He was trying to find some migrants. Again, a hair too late. 

K was hunting for shells. 

She would have brought home more if I let her. 

Even more. 

On the way back through, a May Fly landed on her, she started to flip and flutter herself and caused them to swarm.  Thanks, K. :S

This is just because we found it to be hilarious.  There are no other cars around.  We were the only ones parked there.  We came back and this car was snuggled up tight to the Yaris.  There is so much space.  Why be all claustrophobic about parking? 

We moved on to Marblehead.  This is the view of Cedar Point from the shore near the lighthouse.

Speaking of, they have a lovely lighthouse! 

This past weekend, after the retirement shin-dig, we went fishing on our little row-row-row your boat.  I saw this parachute, but didn't recall seeing a plane come by to drop it.  Nope.  It was a guy with a parachute and maybe an ultralight mechanism that he rode on.  Looked cool.

He twirled and spun in the air.  I told Hubs that I would probably be ill if that was me up there.  I'll just watch that from the ground, thank you.  

My people didn't catch any fish this past Sunday, but it wasn't for a lack of trying.  By the time we got the boat loaded back up and back home, it was well past 9 PM.  They went to a different lake this past  Monday and enjoyed much better success.

Have a great day!

The rummage sale report.

$4,231.  That is the amount we made from selling all of those miscellaneous items that came from homes, garages, basements and more.  That's a lot of money to go toward the building loan tab was what we made from discards.

That, my friends, is the Lord at work.

Doug, spouse of previous rummage coordinator, told me that one of the church ladies told him how pleased she was with the job that I did.  "Amy, understand that from  - - - that is high praise."  "She told me that and I kind of gathered that."  She's not one to praise, so when she does you take it and thank.

Incidentally, she keeps hugging me.  She is a past president of the PTA that I just stepped down as president of.  I think that was a big in for me.  I had a number of the older folks, including the previous principal of K's school, tell me that they really appreciated that I let them do their own thing.  "Dr. G, it isn't something for me to micromanage.  It wasn't something that I needed to build and it wasn't something that was broken.  Everyone knew what they always did and I just supported them in continuing their good work."  "That hasn't always been the case."  "I know."

There were several occasions when I had ladies come, introduce themselves to me and ask what I wanted them to do.  "Pat, what is it that you've always done?"  "Clothing."  "Then Pat, go ahead and do what you always do."  She looked at me so relieved.  If they feel comfortable and have a way of organization and flow, who am I to "fix" their system?

Next year will be even better.  I've earned trust.  People know who we are now.  (K, me and Hubs.)  We have two services, but we only attend one.  Between seeing K and me in front of the church now twice in the last month and Hubs come to break down and haul sale leftovers, we are now recognizable faces.

It stunned me.  K offered to come up with me.  On Sunday, the church was packed!  She wanted to announce how much we made from the sale and how much the youth had made from their concession sales.  She did a great job!  I support her in her want to speak before a crowd of people.  Not everyone is comfortable with that and if she can do that at the age of 10, hopefully that will stick with her.  I was always scared to death.  It wasn't until my parents had me participate in a few pageants (not like T&T) did I develop an ability to speak to people that I don't know and to talk in front of a crowd.  Speaking to crowds is still not my absolute favorite thing, but at least it doesn't paralyze me in fear anymore.

So there we go.  We were successful and the rummage sale volunteers want me back.  I have no problem with that.  It also helps to teach my daughter how to serve and that sometimes serving is hard work, not always the cleanest of things and how to work with people with different personalities.

Reverend Karen's retirement.

I didn't expect it really.  I should have known.  I went without Kleenex.  :sigh:  Most of the sermon there were tears in my eyes and rolling down my cheeks.

We all cried.  I doubt that there was a dry eye in the house.

Rev. Karen has been with our church for 21 years.  Now, we've been there a little over 2 1/2 years, but it really hit us hard.

Rev. Karen preached on Ephesians 6:10-20.  She preached to a packed house.

She cried.

We cried.

We had a potluck afterwards.  We were able to present her with many wonderful gifts from the congregation, but the one most special (at least I think) is that our Family Life Center is now named after her and her husband.

I would say that we all ate, but she was so busy socializing that she didn't get to.  We were trying to pull a plate together in the end.  I told her that it was like when you get married.  You know that the food is there.  You hear that it was good, but you didn't get a bite.  (At least that's what happened at my wedding.)

We are a congregation slightly in flux.  Reverend Joe starts on July 6.  We'll have an interim pastor next week.  Rev. Joe is wonderful and has a great family full of kids.  We bought them a parsonage probably 8 blocks away from the church.  He is young.  He is energetic.

While we are sad to see Rev. Karen go, her journey doesn't end here.  She and her husband will be traveling the US with an RV in order to serve God and help others wherever they are called.  Rev. Karen and Tom may end up in a service at your church.  Who knows?