The Greatest Neighbor

Yesterday I was out planting the vegetable garden and my neighbor Marie came out to chat. She's so great. First she told me that she and her husband Kurt used to have a huge garden, Kurt loved to garden. They grew everything, even sweet corn, and the garden spanned the entire length of their back fence. But as they got older, it got harder and harder to maintain it. Mind you, she's told me this story before, but I always love it when she tells it, its a connection point, and she is always so delighted to come out and find me in my garden because it reminds her of the good ole days and her late husband, who always loved his garden.


She said she thanks God daily that she's out and about and still on her own two feet. "People are always asking 'Marie, how ARE you?' I just tell them I'm still here and still on my own two feet, its a good day!" She said she'll be 95 in July (mystery solved) and she's just so glad to be in such good health. She waved toward her great grandson mowing the lawn, "and it sure is great to have him doing all of that!"


My Gram makes similar comments when you ask how she is, she responds with a brilliant smile and a cheery "Well, I'm still here!"


It seems like getting older makes people more aware, more thankful of each passing day. And I think that is a good reminder for me as well. How am I? Praise the Lord I'm still here and on my own two feet. And I'm grateful for the wonderful examples of living joyfully in the moment in the people around me.

Weekend Connections

This weekend I'm taking Friday off work and heading out of town... My plan is to load the car Thursday night so I can get up at the buttcrack of dawn on Friday and just grab the coffee and go (I'm especially trying to avoid letting the dogs know that I'm leaving). My first stop is for lunch with my cousin who lives in Elgin, IL (outside of Chicago). He's one of those terrific guys that I never seem to see enough of, so its nice to be driving past his door and able to grab a bite and catch up on life.

From there I'll go on to Stevens Point WI (3.5 hours north) to visit my friends Patty and Phil and their two kids William and Miriam. Miriam just arrived a few weeks ago and is being baptized on Saturday, so it was a good excuse to get out to see them since I haven't seen them in a year and a half. William is 2 now and I'm looking forward to renewing our friendship :) Patty and I lived together for a few years before she got married and moved north. I sure miss seeing her on a regular basis and am glad to be able to go visit for a couple days!

Sunday morning I'll leave Patty's and head for Tomah WI to meet up with my friend Angelique who is moving to St Paul MN this weekend. I'm driving a carload of stuff for her, so we're meeting halfway between our destinations for her to pick up her stuff and to go to Mass and brunch together. From there I've got another tenative dinner date with yet another long lost friend who lives in Peoria, although we havent figured out if that one is actually going to happen or not.

After dinner I'll get back on the road and head for home sweet home... It is sure to be a lot of miles and a lot of friends in a couple short days, not to mention some driving time, which is also good!

Saturday's Find

I was tilling the garden on Saturday and moved aside some old dried up stalks from last year and found a rabbit's nest full of baby wabbits!! They were tiny, eyes still closed, very little fur. They were all nestled in there warm and sheltered and I felt like a murderer exposing them by moving their shelter. As I watched fascinated, not touching them, I realized there was no movement at all. I would think being exposed to the breezy spring air would make them nestle closer together, deeper into their hole, something. Hmmm. I knew if I touched them, their mother probably would abandon them... and I know I'm a bleeding heart for orphans so I'd feel it was my responsibility to bottle feed them around the clock, even if their chances of survival were slim. Still watching and still not seeing any movement at all, I got a shovel and moved their nest a bit, still no movement. I touched one of them and it was cold to the touch. I'm not sure what happened to their mom, but she probably got eaten by a neighborhood pet and the babies didn't survive. At least I didn't kill them. I dug the nest out full of the tiny wabbits and disposed of it. Bye bye wabbits, you would have been so cute- and such a nuisance if you'd survived.

And I'm happy to report that I did scan the backyard and didn't find a dead adult rabbit, so I am pretty confident this tragedy is not the responsibility of the Nichols homestead or any of its inhabitants.

more neighborhood watching

I cannot figure out the people directly across the street from me. The house was up for rent a little over a year ago and these people moved in. They have a small windowsill dog that barks a lot, they don't do anything with the yard or front garden, and are never outside. My suspicion is that its a divorce situation since usually its just a guy, but sometimes there is a couple middle school age kids, and sometimes a woman coming and going... I don't know, its confusing. He never smiles or waves and doesn't walk the dog, so we haven't had any connection points to date.
The people next door to Marie are pretty cool. They are probably about my parents age and spend a lot of time on their patio and in the yard. Last year she (I don't remember her name) came over while I was in the garden and offered me some black eyed susans from her garden, which I accepted happily. The husband spends a lot of time in the garage working on cars and they both ride big motorcycles together on sunny days. They have a boston terrier named Payton, who they got from their daughter because although he was great with their kids, he was too protective and would growl at the mom when she punished the toddler. So they took him in and love him (see, dogs are a beginning conversation point). Payton and the BOC occasionally notice each other across Marie's yard, but its generally not a huge barking issue.

There is a little old lady who rides an adult tricycle and her two mini scottie dogs run along next to her (on leashes). It is an awesome sight that I hope to capture on film sometimes. For as crazy as I must look biking with my labs, its much funnier on an adult trike with lap dogs, going slower than a leisurely walk.

There is a guy who lives about a block away who has two big white fluffy dogs. He walks them regularly, and they are the the BOC's antithesis. There is an over abundance of barking every time they walk behind the yard. It is kind of funny, my two black short haired ladies, his two fluffy white doggies.

Plant Invasion

If you've ever been in my house, you know that I like houseplants. And in the last few years, having gotten better at keeping them alive, they've multiplied and filled more and more space in my house. I do love houseplants!

This past week I realized things may be out of control...

• My sister and her family went out of town, so I volunteered to watch and water her garden seedlings for a couple weeks. Mind you, that's a bunch of plants and since she got a good headstart on planting, her tomato plants are huge!
• A few weeks ago, I brought home 4 large plants from our Life Teen room at church. They needed new soil, repotting, and one of them looks near death and i think it needs more sunlight. Anyway, so I took those plants home to repot them, and to try to nurse the two sickly ones back to health.
• Last week I brought home a large houseplant from work that needed repotting, and some love and care (somehow I neglect it at work).

And that's just the visitors!!

Monday night I had to pot my seedlings from their tiny seed starting trays into larger pots as they were all outgrowing their trays. Not to mention the 30+ houseplants that normally live in my house. As usual, I've gone overboard on seedlings. In my defense, it starts out so innocent, some dirt, tiny seeds, and a spring-starved crazy woman. Now 2 months later, they are honest to goodness plants and are taking over my entire dining room!! Besides that, I'm not very consistent with my seedling care and have killed half of them before they even made it to the garden the last couple years. This year I seem to have done better and haven't killed many at all... meaning I have a surplus of tomato plants!! Let me know if you want one or two or twelve. I may have some extras needing homes in the next few weeks.

Anyway, my house looks like there's been a plant invasion... and yes, I realize I may be just a little out of control :D

Neighborhood Watch

I always enjoy observing the happenings in my neighborhood, the people, etc. I wouldn't say I'm tight with my neighbors, but people are friendly and we generally smile and/or wave, even though we don't actually know each other. Let's see, the guy 2 doors down is an older gentleman, maybe 60-ish, and always washes his pick up truck. He also grills a lot and did grill out today, in the rain. He's a waver, we always smile and wave, although we never actually speak. I've never noticed if he's married or not, but he does take good care of his lawn and vehicles.

The people across from clean pick up guy moved in a few months ago. I've always liked that house, and had met the older couple that lived there previously. The old owners had a huge black dog, Bear, and we used to chat occasionally (dogs seem to be a common point to begin a conversation on). Their lawn was always immaculately kept, weed free, and lush... so jealous. Anyway, the new people have a little girl, maybe 2 years old, and I see them in the front yard a lot. This weekend while I was doing my front yard I noticed them pulling out all the pine bushes in front of the house (I loathe pine bushes). It gave me a little thrill to see them working to get rid of those things and I'm dying to see if they're going to put in flowers with the space. That was the one thing that yard always needed, some color, flowers, and less pine bushes (even if they were always immaculately trimmed). I wish I was a little more outgoing and would just go over and meet the neighbors, but that seems awkward somehow... but if they are flower people, maybe its an "in" :D My first impression was that they seemed cool (young couple with cute kid) and now they've moved up another notch getting rid of those bushes, maybe I'll introduce myself sometime soon.

The people next door have lived there for years, since before I moved in. Scott is a good dad and an intense guy who thinks I'm an idiot. I know he means well, but he gets under my skin when he offers advice or treats me like an idiot. I try to just smile and be polite. His wife is cool, but doesn't spend nearly as much time outside as Scott and the kids do. The kids and I smile and wave, but aren't overly chatty usually, although they always talk to the dogs. Friday night I mowed the yard and planned to edge by our mutual fence on Saturday. When I pulled in the driveway after garage saling in the morning, Scott was leaned over my fence with his edger... awesome. He hadn't edged yet either, but its kind of annoying that he had to hang over the fence to do my side... again, I'm sure he meant well, but probably didn't think I would do it. Grrr.

On the other side is my favorite, Marie. She was in her 90's when I moved in and she's even older now :) She is wonderful and so cute. Her husband died about 3 years ago, she always wears skirts and old lady leather tie shoes- adorable. I don't see much of her during the winter, but always chat with her regularly during yard season since my garden is right out her side door. Every year she asks me a couple of times "Did you grow up on a farm?" "No." "My husband and I used to have a wonderful garden here, we loved it." Anyway, she's awesome and inspires me. I want to be in my late 90's and still living on my own. Thankfully though, she now has a kid that comes to mow her lawn every week (she did it until about 2 years ago). It's nice that it is spring again and we chatted for a few minutes yesterday- and its always great to see her still out and about! Marie was the first neighbor I met and brought me homemade raspberry jam to welcome me to the neighborhood- that's the kind of neighbor I want to be, although I'm kind of chicken sometimes. She's my hero.