18 June 2008 – Wednesday

Today was our 48th anniversary. It was very low key as I was busy working in the yard all morning and Mary worked on genealogy. The first thing I did this morning was to clean out the swamp cooler – some of the water holes were plugged and so the full core was not getting wet. I will check it again tomorrow.

I continue to make headway in cleaning up the North hillside. It will take at least one more morning. I went to Costco and bought a roll of the really good weed block, some geraniums, and a 3 gallon lavender. I am getting into the planting mood but I will not be buying many plants this year unless they are really well priced and I know exactly where I want to put them. I am going to thin some perennials and ground covers to use in areas where some plants died while we were gone. I did filled three planters with geraniums to put on the front railing. It is strange to see so few flowers around the door at this time of the year.

After lunch it was just too hot to work outside so I decided to read under the oaks. Instead I fell asleep. I would very much like to have a full nights sleep – at least 5 to 6 hours.

Once the sun was off the hill, I went back to work there. I also did some more pruning. I think that by this time next week, the yard should be back into shape and if I can get rid of all the piles that I have made, we will be ready to have people over for dinner. Tomorrow is trash pickup so I filled our two and used any empty space in the neighbor’s containers. It does not really make even a dent in the pile but it feels good to see some of it go.

I have to say that Cindy and Bob or someone did do quite a bit of work in the yard because the leaves from last year had been cleaned up and it seems that some areas had been weeded. What did not get done – and I don’t think I asked anyone to do it – was the roses and the clematis were not pruned for two years so they are really wild. I am not sure some of the roses can be cut back far enough to get them under control. But that is no big deal. I can always plant more.

As I sit here I realize that one thing we have not done since we got home was to read the scriptures together. I have a number of good excuses but no good reasons. I do find it hard to sit and think for more than a few minutes – which is why I am behind on this journal – and I often start coughing. For that same reason I have not felt like we could go to the temple or visit the elderly – that seems strange being said by a 70 year old but it is the way it is.