A Different Life II

[Lily&Me]

Over the weekend I took the long loppers I bought last year to the four large shrubs on the north side of my patio, cut them back to about 18” and yesterday hauled all the branches to the curb for pickup this morning.

All. By. Myself.

The loppers make it fairly straightforward, and the gorilla cart I bought a few months after Doug died makes the hauling manageable.

Could have gotten my son to help, but felt I could handle it myself, and I did...and it’s good for my aging bones.


Darling daughter will be home this week, overdue to be back here tho her life and work have been extremely busy the past few years.

Her nephews and niece are growing at a rapid-fire pace, I’ve told her, are nearly adults and she needs to get out here, spend some time and put her arms around them before they are scattered all over the country.

One already graduated from high school, another next spring, and they’ll be gone before we know it.

Will give Grandma a reason to cook some favorites and cram them all in here for a meal, too. Sigh.


We’ve had enough rain the last week or so that we are beginning to move past “drought” stage in this area, tho the almost unimaginable state of the mighty Mississippi River currently speaks to how far we have to go to catch up.

In my lifetime, I don’t ever recall the Mississippi being so low, and it’s affecting everything from pleasure boating to harvest as grain-hauling barges are unable to load to full capacity because the River they travel on is so shallow.

Drought has meant leaf colors are not as vivid as in a really good year, but it is still a pleasure to look out my window.

[Lily&Me]

An article from the US Forest Service in Michigan, on the Point Iroquois Lighthouse I worked on thru HistoriCorps the past two summers.

https://www.fs.usda.gov/inside-fs/de...tions-continue

As one of many volunteers over two seasons, I scraped paint, painted, and did repair work on that beautiful stone fence you see…but those beautifully painted white steps visible in this photo were all mine this past August.

[DaveP]

Originally Posted by Lily&Me

An article from the US Forest Service in Michigan, on the Point Iroquois Lighthouse I worked on thru HistoriCorps the past two summers.

https://www.fs.usda.gov/inside-fs/de...tions-continue

As one of many volunteers over two seasons, I scraped paint, painted, and did repair work on that beautiful stone fence you see…but those beautifully painted white steps visible in this photo were all mine this past August.

Way to go!!

[Hittenstiehl]

What a nice contribution to keeping history alive. Your Grands can visit some of these places in their future and say my grandma worked on this. Nice photograph.

[Lily&Me]

Thanks, folks. ☺️

This Lighthouse has been my favorite project thus far, I think, tho the Fire Tower in Colorado this past summer is a close second.

It’s a good thing.

Maggie

[Paddledipper]

I believe I see you! What a great project to be a part of.

[Lily&Me]

Yep, that is me in the front row, second from right.

To my left is Eric Drake, archeologist with the Forest Service who made me the beautiful spoon last year.

Erin Crooks, our project supervisor with HistoriCorps, is at the far left in this picture.

Lily declined to sit in the sun for the photo, so is under a bush watching us as this was taken.


Have had a good visit with my daughter this week, who has also gotten to see her friends here and spent a lot of time with my son and his, getting reacquainted with her nephews and niece she hasn’t seen in 3 years.

I did dinner here Friday night , we went there last night, and she heads back to NY today.


And I did NOT win the Powerball, forking out $10 the other day for tickets, as it just seemed the right thing to do…and I may do that for every drawing until this phenomenal pot of money is won.

Maggie

[Hittenstiehl]

We matched two numbers. We'll also try again since no one won. We've only done this a couple times so $2.00 is worth it.[emoji57]

[Lily&Me]

Found this article in The Guardian this morning, quoting John Stewart Mill, and it is very interesting.

https://www.theguardian.com/books/20...ry-to-be-happy

“ His argument is simple. We’re made happy when we see our desires met or when things we care about flourish. But then in order to be happy, we have to have desires beside the desire for happiness and to care about things other than ourselves. When we care about something, it’s not just a means that we exploit for our own sake. Its flourishing matters to us in itself, and so it makes us happy.

Mill was right about this, I think. If our final aim is always our own happiness, and everything else is a means to that, nothing will make us happy. Happiness, when we achieve it, is essentially a byproduct. But his argument does not go far enough. Mill never “wavered in the conviction that happiness is the test of all rules of conduct, and the end of life”. He merely argued that it shouldn’t be the “direct end”, and that our pursuit of happiness has to be roundabout. The truth is more radical: that happiness itself is a false god.”

The main point being, essentially, that personal happiness is not achieved as an end in itself, but thru the satisfaction of seeing what we invest our efforts in going well.

A way to think about what for some can be an endless pursuit of “happiness”, and which I believe is very true.

Worth a read.

Maggie

[Lily&Me]

Staging area in the back bedroom for post-Holiday travel is beginning to organize, only task left with the Interstate pre-travel is getting a new coach battery installed next month.

3 1/2 years since the last one, I think, and I seem to be a bit hard on them.

I let them get too low, and am going to work on doing a better job with this next one.


Been plugging away at fall chores at the little house, yesterday ordering a heavy duty tarp for the cord of firewood now residing on my back patio.

We will soon have snow.

Yesterday and today have had very mild, unseasonably warm temps, tho, so perceiving this as a gift from the universe that should be taken advantage of, I have been blowing out the beds around the house, raking some leaves and cutting this & that back…this morning getting a new wave of leaves to the curb just an hour or so before the giant leaf vacuum came up my street for the first time this fall.

Buddha smiles, Doug would say.

Wearing Doug’s Sloppy Joe’s Key West shirt again today, also his old leather gloves that I have kept for hauling firewood, manning the leaf blower, raking, etc., etc.

Somewhere, he is pursing his lips, smiling and nodding his head…good job, Margaret.


My son sent me this picture this morning, of a wall he and middle child helped put up at their church, built out of old barn wood.

Gorgeous, and a good thing for many reasons for a young man to do with his Dad.

I’ve saved it and am using it as a screensaver on my IPad.

[Hittenstiehl]

Very nice wall! They make great backdrops for photos.

[FLCoast]

Your post reminded me of the first time I drove through the neighborhoods where you live and saw the leaf piles in the street and then the vacuum truck. I really wished they had those when I was a kid and had to rake my neighbor’s yards. No regret having done so, but it could’ve been soo much easier. Of course, if I went back another generation: Dad and I took a trip to see where he grew up outside Dyersburg, TN. As we were driving he pointed out that his father held the contract to mow the road side and he did the work. I commented that it must have been really great to be so young and driving all that gear. He looked at me, laughed, and said the ‘gear’ was horse driven. We both had a good laugh.

Enjoy the trip prep. As always, it’s great to read your posts.

[Lily&Me]

Good morning, and thank you.

I remember as a kid raking leaves into the street and burning them.

Whole neighborhoods would be out, kids helping rake, roasting hot dogs and marshmallows, the smell of that smoke on the air.

Our town has not allowed this burning in decades, not leaves nor brush, but at least they come vacuum up your piles of leaves rather than requiring that they be bagged as my daughters town does.

One of my favorite fall experiences during my work years was being on call, working weekends and driving thru the small towns where leaf burning was still allowed.

The whole town would seem to be out, helping each other, cleaning up the streets.


Cleaning the little house this morning, have a loaf of bread mixed and rising on the counter, and am getting ready to walk Lily here in a bit.

It’s Friday.

Maggie

[Lily&Me]

I can hardly believe it will be Thanksgiving next week, and it feels like it kind of snuck up on me.

Got on the phone and ordered some fresh turkey thighs from the meat market to pick up Monday morning, as I like having the smell of roast turkey in the house, plus some to eat , tho not for a moment do I miss doing the big family meals.

Going to bake Martha Stewart’s Pecan Pie Bars and make some soft rolls to take to my son’s, maybe pick up some wine if I take a notion, and be the guest.

In WalMart the other day, Ghirardelli’s Peppermint Bark Chocolates caught my eye, a favorite of Doug’s and I will carry a bag of them to dinner on Christmas…a little bit of their once-doting, very hands-on Grandpa for the kids to enjoy and remember him by.


After temps at 75 last Thursday, it suddenly became winter over the weekend, with lows in the 20’s and going to be downin the teens later this week…and snow predicted tomorrow, tho I have a large tarp coming to cover my firewood.

Dropped off my second big sack of hats and scarves this morning, and a large quantity of winter things I have not worn in years.

“Ridding out”, my first Mother-in-Law would say, tho I hear my own Mother in my head saying But they’re still good!!!.

Yes, they are, which is why they have been donated rather than thrown away.

Now someone who has less and needs them can put them to use, right?


Starting to ponder winter travel, look at routes and pine a bit for the open road.


I finished this book recently, and it was very good, WWII historical fiction…my favorite.

My Name is Eva, by Susan Goodring

https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/sh...me-is-eva:huh:

With some parallels to current day life.

[Lily&Me]

The nice young man who mows and treats my yard for me came late this morning, hauled the leaves from the back yard to the curb in front and did a final mow to leave the yard neat and tidy.

I remember the grands for many years coming for an overnight, raking and playing in the leaves and then we would have a fire in the fire pit, roast hot dogs and make s’mores, and how much fun they had doing that.

Those years are past, but I see the fingerprints of those activities we did with them in the things they love and enjoy still today.

It was time well spent, Doug would say.

Snow coming tonight, and we are ready.

[Lily&Me]

Our second day of light snow, tho the ground has been warm enough it hasn’t “stuck”, that is changing and there may actually be enough for kids to play in.

Toyota has been in the garage since Sunday and I have been puttering in the house the past couple of days…including organizing and tidying up my zipper binder I carry when traveling, my “home book” with hard copy names/addresses, stamps, envelopes, Lily’s shot record, lab orders to be done during travel, vehicle service notations, a list of passwords, post it notes, etc., etc., etc.

A small, portable desk. I like.

I called Interstate Battery yesterday to be sure they had the coach battery which will be installed in a few weeks, and these apparently come in 3 sizes.

What???

I did not remember that.

Will make a trek out to storage to look at the purchase record from 2019, then make a note for the next time.


Have I ever mentioned how much I love my little wood stove?

There is something viscerally, primally comforting, looking at its fire.

[Por Sonia]

Hi Maggie,

Thanks again for your great thread!

Does that wood stove have the proper air clearance gap to that fabric sofa on the right?

Peter

[Lily&Me]

Hi, Peter.

I’m not sure what you are seeing, but there is no fabric sofa.

There is a cast iron wood rack to the right in the picture.

By the way, I got into the Interstate the other day, found the purchase papers from the last coach battery I bought…in Pennsylvania”… and the invoice just said “battery”.

I called NAPA Auto Parts where it had been purchased, gave them the part number on the invoice and it is a “Group 31” battery.

Called Interstate Battery with that information, and they knew exactly what that was…and, they have it in stock at all times.

Maggie

[Por Sonia]

Oops my bad . . . sorry!

FWIW the [combustible] wood in the rack should also have the proper clearance to the side of the wood stove.

FWIW

[Lily&Me]

Thank you, Peter.

There has been a wood rack there 37 years without a problem, I monitor fires carefully and the wood stove does not get hot enough to ignite what is in the rack.

But thank you for your concern for us, and for pointing this out.

Maggie