I did this
last year, too, but I'd been watching the last tiger lily to see if it would open, and happily it did. There are plenty of fall-blooming flowers but tiger lilies aren't really one of them. Still, this last, little lily was able to complete its lifespan before the inevitable.
Today is cool, windy and it rained a little this afternoon, thus all the leaves that have freshly fallen. Cool and wet enough after work that I took my half-hour after-work walk on the treadmill for the first time. I started at 1.6 mph, quickly going up to 1.8 and by the time I was done, 2 mph. Still a little awkward, but I think that will get better the more I do it.
I talked to neighbor Jane, and she says she was told they probably won't remove the stump until this time next year, so she found it odd they marked the utilities already. But it is municipal work, meaning they keep their crews busy. Whether it's leaf pickup, yard waste pickup, tree trimming, plowing snow or whatever else they have to do, if there's not one task to keep them busy enough then they move on to the next, and weather decides a lot. It doesn't really matter to me how long it takes, I'm just watching the process.
My Mom moved closer recently, back to the town we lived in for my formative years. A smaller place, one level, and less than half the drive I had before to see her in Iowa. It sounds like she's been reconnecting with many old friends, relatives and acquaintances, so she's had lots of company already and moving day was just last week. I was down there to see the place and help her with a few things last weekend, and there is still more to do.
I mentioned her new place is one level, and is pretty much zero entry but for a step down into the garage. She's 75 so doesn't move around quite as she used to and asked me if I could build her a ramp. I agreed, of course, so took a few measurements and I've been planning the build. This week I'll have to get a few pieces of wood and some hardware, otherwise I have most of the wood and tools ready to go. A miserable afternoon and my counterpart has been out so far this week so work has me a bit frazzled and so I haven't gotten everything I need yet, but surely before Friday so I can get started building that day or Saturday. Best case scenario, I get it fully built on Saturday and delivered Sunday morning, but we'll see how it goes. It's only 6 1/2 inches, but a ramp - with handrails - will make it so much easier and safer for her. She'd asked me to do projects for her when I was much younger and I'd normally avoid it if I didn't know how to do it. Now, I'm older, wiser, have a bitchin' set of tools and the internet. I'm looking forward to building this for her and, of course, I'm sure I'll share it here.
4 comments:
It's good to be able to build and help family and others. Looking forward to how it turns out.
Lovely colour to that Lily. It is sad to see the last of the flowers going and when the wind picks up the leaves being blown away. I do very much like autumn and the last couple of nights smelling the smoke from leaf and wood fires in the evenings.
Thank you, you know how I like projects like this. Just got back from the DIY store. Got most of what I need but I think I might have shorted myself one board. Some of the hardware I'll have to get from a smaller store as the big box place has every single (not boxed) nut and bolt packaged individually in plastic!
I'm finding that mold from the decaying leaves is another allergy for me. I believe that's just about every outside allergy I seem to have now, from tree pollen in the spring to ragweed and mold in the fall. It's been more and more every year for at least a decade, probably longer. I wish I could find a better medicine for it.
I used to take Loratidine or Cetirizine anti-histamines, alternating the two for my allergies.
I now take Fexofenadine which has recently become an 'Over the Counter' purchase instead of a doctors prescription. I would use every superlative under the sun to describe how good this is because I am pretty much free of any allergy symptoms using this. It is fantastic. I don't know if you can buy it in the States but Fexofenadine Hydrochloride is the drug.
I just checked and of course it is available in the USA as it was first made in Massachusetts!
Good luck with the build.
Thank you, I do see that it's readily available. I've tried a few different things, not this, and always go back to diphenhydramine because I know it works for me even though it takes some time to go into effect and doesn't last long. I'll try fexofenadine straight away, thanks again, delcatto.
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