Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Moving forward, slowly.

Location, At Home, CA

It looks like I am a little behind on the blog although there isn’t much happening right now.

I am putting things together for my annual foray with Ranchero Visitadores which starts for me next week. There have been some setbacks this year as my boss for the last several years passed away suddenly last October from a massive heart attack. This was very unfortunate and really threw a wrench in the works.

My first boss from years ago stepped in to help out. I thought I had a full crew but found out in February that one of my guys who worked the midnight to 8 AM shift was in a convalescent home and not expected to live.

Other arrangements were made to cover his absence and until recently that’s where things stood. A few weeks ago I called his house to see how he was doing and his wife said “Why don’t you ask him” and handed him the phone.

It is like a miracle as he is doing well and wanted to work so I made arrangements with my boss for him to work his usual midnight shift. It really relieves me of several responsibilities for which I am grateful. Miracles still do happen!

Next Monday I will go up and mow the grass where we park our RV’s. If we don’t do that we get all the foxtails in our socks and also track them into the RV’s. I also will take up the boards from my patio cover over the rear patio. It is time to replace it and Rancheros is a good place to burn the wood in our nightly camp fires.

I am adding a few recent photos taken on my morning walk. The roses are in the parkway  around the corner from our street.





I love the water beads on this ornimental grass.

This ceonothus is in a planted area near a wall. It grows wild on the mountains behind us and makes the hill look grey when all are in full bloom.

Monday, April 18, 2011

A small setback.

Location, At Home, CA

I seem to have had a small setback in my recovery. After resuming most of my normal routine (with frequent rest time) I suddenly got either an allergy attack or a bad cold. At this point I’m thinking a cold; however, I have had some of the symptoms since I was released from the hospital more than a month ago.

We have had really nice weather for the last week or so but this morning we had our usual high overcast. It burned off later but it also dropped our temperatures back to the 60’s which is more like our normal.

I cut back all the suckers from the boysenberries today. The berry vines are really full of blossoms and lots of small berries are forming. Clyda has been making jam, syrup, and curd from the berries still in our freezer from last year in preperation for this years crop.

We are getting a handful or more of asparagus every day. I do need to weed the asparagus bed tomorrow while the weeds are small.

I took a few photos in the yard today. Something to add a little color to the blog.

The lone rose in our garden.

Bouganvilla on our back fence.


A Dutch Iris in the garden with California Poppies in the background.

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Getting better.

Location, At Home, CA

Last Saturday seemed to be a turning point in my recovery. I don’t have the feeling that I need to sit down and rest every few minutes since then. Oh, I do stop and rest frequently but not as often as before.

I am back to walking my full 3.3 miles every morning. I am just a little slow yet but will in time get back to my normal pace.

A month from now is my annual 10 days of security duty for Rancheros Visitadores. I have been getting things ready, checking my lists, talking to the other guys who will work, rounding up the equipment I will need, and talking to my temporary boss for this year. I may not have mentioned in this blog that my old boss (who actually wasn’t that old) dropped dead of a heart attack back in October last year. It was a real shock to get that news.

It was also unfortunate as he and I had started work on some changes to make the job more professional. That is all by the wayside now. I just hope that all goes well this year.

Clyda has been weeding the flower beds while I have been working on the small garden patch to get it weeded. We may have a small garden this year after all.

The large Chinese Elm tree in our back yard which shades most of the yard was trimmed way back in November which should give us extra light for the garden.