Cranky Crone News

This week, I thought I’d show you spring in my yard.  Thanks to Larry, who spent three years planning and executing the plan for the flower gardens in the front yard, the plants that have been here for most of that time are starting to bloom.

I’ll leave you with a story about these flower beds.  Larry planned to have flowers in the yard.  He planned to put the beds in the back yard, but I was able to convince him that the front yard would be better.  We are in the front yard every day; not so with the back yard.  So, he did.

Planning and executing this project was a three-year event.  The first year, we drove throughout the metro area to see what plants bloom when.  The second year, he spent double digging (French intensive gardening) the beds.

Double-digging – that means that you dig off the top twelve inches of soil and set it aside.  Next, you dig down another twelve inches and turn  over the soil.  Then, the top twelve inches is returned to its place with “stuff and junk” (my words) that will make the plants grow.  And, by the way, this is how he prepared his seven twenty-by-four foot vegetable beds in the back yard.

Finally, the third year involved buying the plants and putting them into their places, according to the his plan.  In one of the many gardening catalogs, Larry found a salmon-colored iris that was large and beautiful.  Larry really loved that iris but felt that he just couldn’t spend the $40 for the tuber.  $40 would now be about $80, I suspect.

I cautiously and not too kindly reminded him that he had just spent three years of his life planning, digging, and planting the beds. He WAS going to spend the $40 for that iris.  So, he did.  And, surely enough, it became one of the showcase plants in his collection.  It will bloom a little later in the spring; I’ll try to remember to show you

There are promises of other blossoms, buds just waiting to pop.  Among those are the cottonwood tree kernels that pop and shed cotton ALL over the neighborhood.  So, about now, I pray for soft, gentle rains each day to make the cotton stick to itself, fall to the ground, and not blow about the neighborhood.

I hope you have enjoyed the brief tour of Larry’s gardens; there will be more to come.

Be Saafe and Be Well.

The Cranky Crone

Thoughtful comments are greatly appreciated.

This may be the most difficult BLOG I’ve ever written.  In fact, it may be the most difficult writing I’ve ever done.  And, I’ve resigned my thinking that after reading this BLOG, some of you may never want to read another BLOG of mine.  But, I do hope you will bear with me.

To not know what has transpired in the small Texas town this past week, one would need to have been living in a gopher’s hole.  What transpired there I can’t discuss; except to say that it was an unthinkably, horrific act by someone who must have been extremely deranged.  And, it wasn’t the first; there have been so many.  So many incidents.  So much human life, gone.  So many humans who have assumed they have the right to take the life of many other human beings.  Some deaths who have occurred one at a time.  So many that have occurred in mass murders.  And, we are told by those “in the know” that there will be more.

 

Whenever we had a power outage, Larry would ask this question.           I think it was something that was a habit in his family, but I don’t know that as an absolute fact. The answer always was, “down in the cellar eating sauerkraut.” Yesterday, we had a relatively unexpected winter storm (it is, after all, May 20, five days after we could “safely” put in bedding plants); but, nevertheless, we had a wet, heavy, snow storm that lasted all day and into the night.

“I’m having the WATCHMAN procedure,” I say to friends.  And, collectively, they say “Huh?”  “It’s been advertised on TV.”  “I’ve never seen it.”

WATCHMAN really has been advertised on TV, discussed as a procedure for the patient who has AFIB.  A one-­time procedure to eliminate the occurrence of stroke.  (Anyone interested can find lots about the WATCHMAN on the web.)

It is important to note here that IT DOES NOT CURE AFIB.  Understand that – it DOES NOT cure AFIB, but it is important to NOT HAVE STROKES.  So, when Erin, my cardiologist, recommended it, it seemed practical for me.  So, I chose to have the procedure.  However, it is a bit more complicated that I first thought it would be.

I’ll tell you up front – this is going to be a rant!  I cannot believe that it is happening.  The first time I became aware of this practice was in Kearney, Nebraska.  In a restaurant.  At the Red Lobster, to be exact.  I don’t know if it was the practice of that local business or if it is a practice throughout the organization.  Then, it happened again, today, in a local restaurant that I frequent when I have an opportunity.  When you live from hand-to-mouth, every penny counts.

Decisions …

How many decisions do we make in one day?  Starting with the time we decide to get up and ending with the time we decide to go to bed.  How many?

I’ve enjoyed this past week.  I’ve had two visiting dogs, plus Lady.  Paisley (the Australian Shepherd) and Katie (Border Collie).  It’s been somewhat like a three-ring circus – three dogs.  Three dogs to feed, water, exercise, pet, and send outside to the dog run.  And, I’m having so much fun!  I just need three hands for the petting.

First, let me thank you for all of your responses about the dog story.  Your suggestions have made it a better story, and it is going to be titled:  Katie and the Pest.

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I often started conversations with Larry by saying, “I was just      thinking …”  Larry would interrupt me and ask, “Don’t you ever stop thinking?”  Well.  No.  I don’t.  Ever stop thinking.  Do any of us ever stop thinking?  And, so, today was no exception when I saw what is described here.

Today, I was at the grocery store that I like to frequent.  As I was leaving, there in front of me was an out-of-control dog; big dog – its shoulder came up to my knees.  I keep wondering why I see such dogs in the market, so to validate my thinking, I checked with the ADA definition of “service dog.”  The federal rules provide guidance on the term “service animal.”  I’ve included a portion of that information below.  (The State rules are similar.)

“How “Service Animal” Is Defined

“Service animals are defined as dogs that are individually trained to do work or perform tasks for people with disabilities. Examples of such work or tasks include guiding people who are blind, alerting people who are deaf, pulling a wheelchair, alerting and protecting a person who is having a seizure, reminding a person with mental illness to take prescribed medications, calming a person with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) during an anxiety attack, or performing other duties. Service animals are working animals, not pets. The work or task a dog has been trained to provide must be directly related to the person’s disability. Dogs whose sole function is to provide comfort or emotional support do not qualify as service animals under the ADA.

“Beginning on March 15, 2011, only dogs are recognized as service animals under titles II and III of the ADA.

“Generally, title II and title III entities must permit service animals to accompany people with disabilities in all areas where members of the public are allowed to go.”

In other words, a dog being cuddled in the arms of the owner should have been left in the car.

I also think about the store owners or managers don’t seem to understand that these are the rules and require that the owners of those non-service dogs be asked to remove their dog from the market.  In this same category of stores is the restaurant owner who does not require that the dog owner remove the dog from the premises.  I’ve been told more than once (after talking with the store manager) that he/she can do nothing about the dog.  Of course, I always remind them about the federal and state rules regarding this issue.

I frequent only one location (a health services business) that has a poster on the door explaining their policy about service dogs and what they really are.

All of this thinking caused another “bout of thinking;” Thinking about this issue in reference to a slightly different situation.  I have a friend who trains dogs to be of service to returning military service personnel.  As noted in the information above, these canine companions are trained to do some special activity for the person with whom they will live.  They are trained to specifically give the needed emotional support.  For me, this presents a true quandray.  What do I do when I see a dog in a place where I think such an animal shouldn’t be?  And, how do we know that the animal has had specific training to be emotional support for returning military personnel?

Another happening that makes me think a lot is the family that comes into a restaurant for breakfast or some other meal.  I personally don’t understand the people who arrive for their meal, do not talk, and spend their time using their thumbs.  It always pleases me when I see a family (parents and other adults and kids) carry on a conversation rather than having their noses and fingers attached to their phones.  When I see such a family, I attempt to make a quiet effort to pay for their meal.  I talk with their wait staff, pay for their meal, and ask that they hold off letting the family know that the meal has been paid for until I’ve left the restaurant.  And, I ask the wait staff to tell them that their meal has been paid for because I think that “good parenting” should be rewarded.  I always hope that it is a pleasant surprise for the family.

The passng. during this year, of so many of my friends and relatives (and of friends and relatives of friends) has caused me to think about the future a little more seriously.  Do you ever wonder how you will be remembered when, after a life well-lived, you leave this veil of tears?  I am thinking that I’d like my legacy to be this:  she is a child of God; she was a wife, a mother, grandmother, and a friend; and, that for thirty years, she was an educator.

Be Safe and Be Well

The Cranky Crone

Thoughtful comments are appreciated.

Here is a true and recent dog story for you.   I am currently taking a wonderful class about writing for children – specifically, writing picture books.  When our name comes up in the roster, it is our turn to submit a story for critique by the other students.  Although I have a “ton” of children’s stories to submit, this past week I watched Kate, the Border Collie who stays with me, occasionally.  So, I wrote about that event, and here it is.  The story that I submit for the reading won’t have the photographs, but I couldn’t resist putting them in the BLOG.  Feel free to critique it and tell me how it can be improved.  Thanks.  (Oh, by the way – you can tell that I don’t know what the story’s name will be because of the two possible names.)

Remember when Mr. Rogers sang that song on his children’s program?  Once in a while, as an adult, we get to have such a day.  And, last Sunday was such a day.  A friend and I made plans to go to a rocks and mineral sale.  Another friend joined us.  My Tahoe is a little better for fitting in three adults, so we took it and drove a far distance from the center of town (where I live) out east to the edge of the metropolitan area.  A far piece, indeed.

Dear Readers:  This is getting to you a bit late.  We had an almost eight-hour power outage.

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I really like Chinese food.  Thai food.  Any kind of food that ends with a cookie – a fortune cookie.  What fun it is to crack open the cookie to pull out the little paper with your “fortune” on it.  Sometimes, the words make sense, but even if they don’t you usually pretend that they do