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3rd best drinking water in the world
its been a really beautiful saturday. started it with a really good papua new guinea light roast from Kaldis. very yummy and read the paper, such as it is in this brave new world. kevin and i went to the market and got lots of great stuff: spinach, mixed salad greens [has little baby bok choy], asparagus, arugula (a smaller package a little goes a long way), and some other salad stuff. also got a pack of orange marigolds for the tomato patch and a Patric chocolate bar. hit them up for info on slave labor in the harvest of cocoa and they said only on the Ivory Coast and they don’t buy from there. i got a frequent buyers card in case they’re good. also got some apple butter.
stopped by nancy’s garage sale fundraiser and it was nice seeing everyone gathered for a good cause, got some books (mostly for work), some lavender dryer sachets, and wrapping paper. made steal cut oats in the rice cooker with some raisins. john was unimpressed so i’ll probably work them out of the rotation for the foreseeable future as kevin’s not much of a breakfast guy. though he is into the local bacon i also got at the market this morning and am going to make up tomorrow with some grits and eggs over medium.
it was beautiful weather wise and got two loads of laundry done on the line and managed to finish digging out the bed by east side of the house. i’m out of finished compost so i just added coffee grounds. the dirt there was pretty decent so they’ve had some stuff there before but its been a minimum of 6 years since it was worked. there was a lot of maple tree roots i had to dig out. i dug up the lilies i move every year out of the front yard and planted them around the perimeter and then put in 8 brusel sprouts [thanks erica who sprouted them from seed and even delivered] . i think they should look cool together and i am hoping to use the lilies to keep the dogs out. i’ve got a couple more brussel sprouts i am going to weave into where the strawberries fade out buttressed by more lillies. gonna put in the rest of the lillies inaround the most dog trampled strawberries. speaking of one of them is pretty red so i should have my first one in a few days or so. can’t wait. i almost bought a $6 pint of them at the market but decided to wait for my own. got many gallons last year and there are more so i am optimistic.
my neighbor henry flagged me down while digging up lillies and gave me a couple of forsythia bushes and lopped for me. after seeing the ungainly clump that i put in the ground a few years ago from him he must’ve figured he’d better just do it for me. his yard is looking amazing, really coming along. i’ve got a fair chunk of stuff to get in the ground, wouldn’t mind mowing my lawn but will probably wait on that.
john has all three rain barrels operational now, hopefully. he added a washer and it seems like we’ve got it now. we walked through the garage and talked about an organizational plan. john has been knocking out the projects. he got a dog waste compost set up in the back corner of the yard that is really great. buried a garbage can surrounded by rocks with holes in the bottom. add poo until there’s enough and then added 1/3 of a package of septic tank conditioner. “i’ve never bought a bottle of bacteria before”, john said. has a lid. might move the hydrangia out into the new dirt pile by the composter to make room for the second of mom’s rose bushes. it will be nice to get them in the ground on mother’s day.
be kind to our one big mother, you know the one with oceans and stuff.
then i cooked dinner. parboiled crocker apple brats also from the market in Flat Branch brown ale, made red potato packets with red onion, and asparagus packet with baby garlic, green onion, a little tomato, lemon juice and a little olive oil. also did a nice salad and kevin got brat buns which were very festive. i served it with my first batch of sun tea with green tea and a bag of ginger.
i got a little too much sun but it was probably good to try to adjust to the coming heat. spring has been wonderful but summer temps are rolling in.
Dad’s funeral arrangements
Hello Everyone. Just wanted to put out an update on my dad’s funeral arrangements. The funeral will be Saturday April 16th at Farnham’s Funeral Home. 1125 W Temperance Road Temperance, MI 48182 Phone Number: (734) 847-3811. Visitation will be from 12 to 3, with the funeral at 3. I will be delivering the message so it will not be your typical funeral though I am going to preach a bit, but the heart of it is Dad’s story which is compelling in and of itself. the rest of the family is involved in the ceremony as well and it is really a DIY affair. At 4:00 we will be sharing a meal and perhaps hoisting a few in Dad’s memory at the American Legion Hall620 W Temperance Rd Temperance, MI 48182. Afterwards we will be drifting back to Brenda’s. My computer is having trouble so i will not necessarily be able to be reached by facebook or email. I am leaving for the home country thursday morning and will be reachable by dad’s cel phone 734-777-0659. i cannot get messages because he took the password to the grave.
memorial hill
well what used to be called myrtle’s grave is taking on added significance as i prepare to sprinkle a small amount of my father’s cremated ashes there. he loved that little dog and spoke of her fondly with some of his last words. buzzed on the morphine he told me “i want to marry myrtle. so he’ll largely be buried with my mom in the erie cemetery (yes its true) but a little bit will stay here in columbia where he spent some pleasant years. Gabriel Garcia Marquez says a place doesn’t really become home until you bury your dead there. i want columbia to be home at least a little bit.
when myrtle died last year we buried her deep as you should a good and faithful companion, all things being equal. we planted greek myrtle (six of them on the grave) and they had pretty foliage and little white flowers. it died off over the winter and hadn’t really snapped back. last fall i had added 3 new and a bit more existent daylillies at the head and foot. later i put in some tulips and crocuses on the bird feeder side. nothing is blooming and while not bleak its not exactly much of a pick me up.
sarah and i had gone to menards to return tile and so i picked up everything that was flowering. i got a lobelia hanging basket for the front and moved the windchime to the backyard. i bought some larger perenials and a flat of annuals and really made the memorial area look sharp. annual wise i did violas, snap dragons, pansies, verbana, and a couple of others. I also did a good sized gerbera daisy. Perenials i did a lot of creeping phlox, some bellis, and a couple of candytuft (iberis-sempervirens). it looks sharp. i also have some other stuff in pots now, maybe i’ll get it in the ground in time in the beds along the neighbor’s privacy fence which will be the backdrop for the service. I’ve got some daffodils going on one side and some grape hyacinth on the other. the new stuff adds some flowering now to the beds which have at least greenery going.
overall its earlier then i would like, in a lot of ways but i am glad i decided to have a little bit going all the time rather than having stuff that all hits at once so i at least had something to build from. you don’t get to choose your time on these things.
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