Here are some pictures from around the yard – actually the front part of our yard. The first one is looking North from the South edge of the yard. Notice the small window of blue sky that can be seen through the trees. the second picture shows the small patio area in the Southeast corner of the yard. I landscaped much of this area the summer before we left on our mission and was surprised at how much it had matured in less than 2 years. The last picture is the lower part of the front of our house. The water feature that I had to clean out is just under the window that can be seen.

10 June 2008 – Tuesday

Another terrible night – I will be glad when the cold is gone and I can sleep again. Mary woke not feeling well – she accused me of giving her my cold. I must plead guilty to the charge.

Jim’s family dropped by for about an hour to say goodbye on their way to Bob’s and then the airport for their flight home. It was of course sad to give them last hugs and send them on their way. We should see them sometime in August when we go to Chicago.

I spent almost all day working on the yard. I started with the water feature by the front door and worked my way out. Cleaning out 2 years of muck from the pond was not a lot of fun but it gave me a chance to redo the rocks and give it a better look. The small one at the back of the house was much easier to clean – at least once I got the tube unplugged. I was careful not to exhaust myself so there were plenty of rest stops throughout the day and even a nap later. I did a lot of trimming, some weeding, and some moving pots around.

When I was in the resting mode, I sat in different parts of the yard and enjoyed the view. As I sat there I realized that after my children and grandchildren, what I most wanted to get back to was my garden. I think it is going to take about 3 weeks to get it under control and I am not going to do much planting – at least not large plants. So almost all of it will be cleaning up and weeding.

I should mention that is was quite cold today. Even when it was warm in the sun, if I got into the shade, it immediately cooled off.

We got e-mail from Hendra, the Gibbons, Elder Subandriyo, and sister Hinckley over the last couple of days. Hendra says that they have improved the internet but I will believe when the Rebers tell me it is true. Elder Subandriyo asked me to follow up on a couple of programs. Sister Hinckley answered an e-mail I sent her and says that she will see us in July. The Gibbons were looking for the May report – Mary later sent it to them.

We watched NCIS and Without a Trace tonight. It did not take us long to get back into the habit of watching our favorite TV series. We occasionally watched WaT on our mission, but not regularly. Mary barely made it through WaT – she kept falling asleep and watched the last 5 minutes with her eyes half open. Unfortunately I am still coughing so much that I doubt if I will sleep well tonight.

My tender mercies for the day included being able to work for many hours. Also calling a sprinkler repair person who could immediately come over because another customer had cancelled. He cleaned the rocks out of the pipe and turned on the water so I could water the whole yard. It really needed it. There are a couple of problems and I am hoping that Bob can help get them worked out if he comes on Saturday. The greatest blessing of the day was to hold our granddaughters and see them smile.